Latest / Booked On Rock with Eric Senich / Under The Stars with Singer/Songwriter Arwen Lewis [Episode 223]

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Under The Stars with Singer/Songwriter Arwen Lewis [Episode 223] · Booked On Rock with Eric Senich

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Speaker 1: I'm a writer, I know dialogue. How to found the conversation? Right?
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Speaker 2: That's a geyser?
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Speaker 1: Interesting, interesting as provocative.
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Speaker 2: Old Daddy Sam back Man Rock and Roll. Welcome back
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Speaker 2: to book don Rock, the podcast for those about to
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Speaker 2: read and rock. Find the podcast at book down rock
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Speaker 2: dot com. Every episode in both audio and video, also
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Speaker 2: links to all your favorite listening platforms. Exclusive video segments
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Speaker 2: from episodes. Got a blog there, links to all of
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Speaker 2: the social media sites, and find out the latest rock
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Speaker 2: book releases all through book down rock dot com. It's
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Speaker 2: another chapter in the Dialogue series, a chill and chat
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Speaker 2: with authors, fellow podcasters, musicians, and more. Our guest is singer, songwriter,
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Speaker 2: multi instrumentalist Arwin Lewis. Arwin is the granddaughter of Academy
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Speaker 2: Award winning actress Loretta Young and the daughter of Peter Lewis,
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Speaker 2: a founding member of the band Moby Grape. For twenty
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Speaker 2: fifteen self titled debut featured her interpretations of her father's songs,
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Speaker 2: and in twenty twenty three she released the EP Under
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Speaker 2: the Stars, which she produced and wrote. It includes self
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Speaker 2: pen tunes along with a cover of her father's song
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Speaker 2: Black Moon. Jackson Brown's dock in my eyes in Joni
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Speaker 2: Mitchell's I Think I understand. I talked to Arwin about
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Speaker 2: our music, her famous lineage, her favorite books on rock,
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Speaker 2: and she has her own podcast. You find out about
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Speaker 2: that as well, So let's hear from Arwin Lewis. A
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Speaker 2: playlist of Arwen's music can be found in this episode's
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Speaker 2: show notes. Arwin, Welcome to the podcast.
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Speaker 1: Thank you for having me on Booked on Rock. This
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Speaker 1: is so exciting.
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Speaker 2: I'm looking forward to this. Before we get into the
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Speaker 2: music that you've created, talk about how music was such
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Speaker 2: a big part of your life. Your dad is Peter
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Speaker 2: Lewis from the band Moby Grape, and there's a great
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Speaker 2: quote from you on your website that I hope you
1:48
Speaker 2: can expand on. You said quote. I remember listening to
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Speaker 2: Moby Grape when I was younger and realizing how they've
1:53
Speaker 2: influenced a lot of authentic rock and roll and even
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Speaker 2: had some similarities to the punk music I loved. It's
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Speaker 2: like they were unknowingly setting something up for the artists
2:01
Speaker 2: that would come along years after them. That's an interesting
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Speaker 2: observation regarding their punk influence. So if you could talk
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Speaker 2: about that.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, like I feel I mean, I don't listen to
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Speaker 1: a lot of punk music anymore, but it was when
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Speaker 1: I was kind of in high school when I started
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Speaker 1: kind of diving into Moby Grape's music as well. I mean,
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Speaker 1: I listened to it a lot when I was growing up.
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Speaker 1: It was background music all of the time, kind of
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Speaker 1: in the house or in car rides and things like that.
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Speaker 1: But you know, I developed my own relationship with it
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Speaker 1: later when I started listening to it on my own.
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Speaker 1: And yeah, at that point, I mean, I guess I
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Speaker 1: was listening to bands like Pennywise and No Effs and
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Speaker 1: AFI and there were songs from Mobi Grape like fall
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Speaker 1: on You or like Murder in My Heart for the
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Speaker 1: Judge and things like that that had that same spirit,
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Speaker 1: you know, of just like singing about something that you're
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Speaker 1: passionate about that was not risque but emotional. And the
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Speaker 1: delivery it was very rock and roll and kind of unfiltered,
3:03
Speaker 1: and I think that's the and the end musically too.
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Speaker 1: It kind of like it drove and like punched kind
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Speaker 1: of the same way like the punk music I was
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Speaker 1: listening to did. And I don't I mean, yeah, I
3:13
Speaker 1: don't think that movie Grape had any intention of you know,
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Speaker 1: setting up like a genre for punk. I don't obviously
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Speaker 1: punk wasn't around at that point, but it was rock
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Speaker 1: and roll, and punk's rooted in rock, and I think
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Speaker 1: that that's kind of the tradition of rock and before rock,
3:34
Speaker 1: like folk music. And you know, I think in pop music,
3:39
Speaker 1: any kind of pop, you know, interpretation, whether it's like
3:43
Speaker 1: rock or like pop R and B or pop soul
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Speaker 1: or pop punk or pop this pop that it's got
3:51
Speaker 1: you know, like every band influences the next one to
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Speaker 1: come along, and whoever the people you know, who was
3:57
Speaker 1: who was Pennywise listening to when they were growing up?
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Speaker 1: You know, that just becomes kind of engraved, I think
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Speaker 1: in your subconscious as a musician and a creator. And
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Speaker 1: you know, I know this happened with like led Zeppelin,
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Speaker 1: like they accidentally like wrote a song that was like
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Speaker 1: completely part of like one of Moobi Grape songs, and
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Speaker 1: it was just because like it was like engraved in
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Speaker 1: Robert Plant's you know memory, and like, how how often
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Speaker 1: does that happen? And even nowadays now it gets kind
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Speaker 1: of crazy with people suing each other over their you know,
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Speaker 1: their their melodies and things like that. And I mean,
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Speaker 1: I guess that used to happen back in the day too,
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Speaker 1: But I think a lot a lot of the time,
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Speaker 1: I think it's just like an honest, like oversight. But yeah,
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Speaker 1: I just think that people generally influence each other as
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Speaker 1: artists and musicians, and that's part of the community of
4:45
Speaker 1: you know, popular music.
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Speaker 2: One of my favorite phrases is taking the music past
4:49
Speaker 2: where you found it. Yeah, that was in one of
4:52
Speaker 2: the movies on the Blues, and it's such a great phrase.
4:55
Speaker 2: What about the artists that you listened to like Billie
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Speaker 2: Holliday and Miles Davis Hedrix You mentioned on your What Say?
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Speaker 2: Who are there the bands and artists that you loved
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Speaker 2: listening to growing up? Oh?
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Speaker 1: I mean yeah, those three. And I really love like
5:07
Speaker 1: Tim Harden. He has this Tim Harden's got this really
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Speaker 1: like rich like I yeah, he's like a folk musician,
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Speaker 1: but there was something more like really you know when
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Speaker 1: those songs really just like the melodies and the words
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Speaker 1: that they're saying are just like so rich and deep
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Speaker 1: that you can't like put a finger on like what
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Speaker 1: how they make you feel? It just really moves you,
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Speaker 1: I think. And Billie Holliday and Jimmy Hendrix of course,
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Speaker 1: like he's done for so many people. And Miles Davis,
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Speaker 1: you know, they all they all did that with their music.
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Speaker 1: It was completely came. It came from their soul. I
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Speaker 1: think anything that really is like soul stirring really moves
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Speaker 1: me and inspires me. And that's the reason, that's why
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Speaker 1: it catches my attention, because it makes me feel something.
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Speaker 2: If you had to pick a favorite female vocalist, who
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Speaker 2: would it be? Jonny Mitchell, Joni Mitchell, okay, yeah, or.
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Speaker 1: Like, I don't know, Chrissy Heine jon jet Hey. I
6:07
Speaker 1: love Beyonce all right? How about Steve Moart? Love Stevie Nicks.
6:13
Speaker 1: I really love Alson Mosart too. Do you know the
6:15
Speaker 1: Dead Weather, the Kills. No, they're like kind of they're
6:19
Speaker 1: like rock rock kind of heavy bands, but they're Yeah,
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Speaker 1: she's really cool. You should look her up. She's just
6:26
Speaker 1: a cool rock singer, you know.
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Speaker 2: I always I always feel for Christy mcfeil because she
6:32
Speaker 2: was so good the song she did with Fleetwood Mac.
6:34
Speaker 2: But Stevie gets so much of the notoriety, but boy,
6:37
Speaker 2: she she was a great vocalist as well. Songbird from
6:41
Speaker 2: the Rumors album Beautiful.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, Beautiful it's always like that, right, God, how many
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Speaker 1: like and you'd probably know this too from having your podcast.
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Speaker 1: How many crazy talented musicians are there in the world.
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Speaker 1: It's insane, it's wild beautiful.
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Speaker 2: Which leads to yes, it's when I was younger, I
6:58
Speaker 2: just thought, well, if this person's famous, that means they're good.
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Speaker 2: If you're not famous, you're not good. And now that
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Speaker 2: is not the case at all, and and and you know,
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Speaker 2: the business side of music, It all just kind of
7:09
Speaker 2: right place, right time. But then again, there are artists
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Speaker 2: who really don't want to be commercial. They would They
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Speaker 2: just like things the way they are because they're just
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Speaker 2: following their their heart and soul and sharing it with
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Speaker 2: others and they don't need to be famous and all
7:23
Speaker 2: that stuff. So but yeah, record labels. How much experience
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Speaker 2: have you had with with record labels?
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Speaker 1: I've had enough great experience with one label. O Mad
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Speaker 1: Records is my libel from New York City. I got
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Speaker 1: very lucky with them. John Denicola is the owner and
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Speaker 1: this head of O Mad Records, and he was my
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Speaker 1: first producer, and he's the one who had the idea
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Speaker 1: to make the Mobi Grape album, so he knew I
7:53
Speaker 1: had been working with my dad and he was like,
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Speaker 1: let's make an album of Arwin singing Mobi Grape songs,
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Speaker 1: and like when this happened later, I gaffer. I kind
8:01
Speaker 1: of started listening to them, and I was like, that's
8:05
Speaker 1: kind of audacious of me to present myself that way,
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Speaker 1: but sure, and it was great, a great experience. I
8:13
Speaker 1: went to Manhattan and I did all my vocals with
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Speaker 1: John in the studio. He hired like the best of
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Speaker 1: the best studio musicians to play all the parts. And
8:22
Speaker 1: then I went back a second time and we did
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Speaker 1: like a show at the Bitter End and like a
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Speaker 1: little radio tour from New Jersey, New York, and that
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Speaker 1: was really cool. And so that was my first experience.
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Speaker 1: Then of course Omad put that out, and then my
8:35
Speaker 1: recent EP Under the Stars that I co produced. I
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Speaker 1: did all that. I mean, I didn't play all those parts,
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Speaker 1: but I co produced that all on my own. That
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Speaker 1: was really pretty much my vision, and my co producer,
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Speaker 1: Jonathan McEwan, helped me bring it to life in a
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Speaker 1: way that you know, in ways that you know musically
8:53
Speaker 1: I wouldn't have heard. And that's why I worked with him,
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Speaker 1: because I knew he could do that. And then from there,
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Speaker 1: all the musicians that I was around at that point,
9:02
Speaker 1: we're able to bring the music to life. Like I
9:07
Speaker 1: didn't really tell people what to play. I just knew
9:10
Speaker 1: that all of the musicians would play a certain way
9:12
Speaker 1: because of, you know, their own musicianship. And I knew
9:17
Speaker 1: that like that group of people would be able to
9:19
Speaker 1: bring those songs to life in the way that they did.
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Speaker 1: It's exactly how I would have wanted to express myself
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Speaker 1: as an artist. And luckily John put that out too.
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Speaker 1: And then it's another something else coming out of collaboration
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Speaker 1: pretty soon here in a couple of weeks. That's coming
9:36
Speaker 1: out on the label, but I can't talk about it
9:38
Speaker 1: quite yet, but that's going to be pretty exciting too.
9:40
Speaker 1: So and anyway, so Omad's been great. Like Omad basically
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Speaker 1: just gives the artist, you know, he he hand selects
9:46
Speaker 1: his artists a boutique label, and he just lets people
9:51
Speaker 1: do what they do, you know. And as long as
9:53
Speaker 1: you're saying something like I have a complete thought musically
9:56
Speaker 1: or artistically with what you're you know, presenting to the label,
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Speaker 1: John is really supportive of that, and I think that's
10:02
Speaker 1: so important to maintain the authenticity of indie artists especially.
10:09
Speaker 2: I'm not supposed to hear that because John was on
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Speaker 2: this podcast. Oh yeah, well he was on to talk
10:13
Speaker 2: about his contributions Dirty Dancing nice right, and you could
10:17
Speaker 2: tell he just loves music, just the actual creation of
10:22
Speaker 2: a song. So not surprised to hear that.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, No, John's. I mean, he's such a cool bass player.
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Speaker 1: He's just a great he could play any instrument. But yeah,
10:32
Speaker 1: John's he's an incredible musician and that's what makes him
10:35
Speaker 1: such a great producer and record label owner as well.
10:38
Speaker 1: Because he's a musician, he understands music. Yeah, I think
10:42
Speaker 1: as long as there's a certain sophistication in the music,
10:45
Speaker 1: you know, and you're an artist on the label you
10:47
Speaker 1: are supporting.
10:48
Speaker 2: That's cool to have a label like that supports the artist. Yeah.
10:51
Speaker 2: Twelve MOBI Grape songs on that album that was twenty fifteen. Yeah,
10:54
Speaker 2: it's titled Darwin. People could find that it's on Spotify something, right.
10:58
Speaker 2: And one of the songs on there maybe my favorite Omaha,
11:02
Speaker 2: which is I guess you could say that's probably the
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Speaker 2: most popular song, Maybie Grape. What a great song is that?
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Speaker 2: What is your favorite MOBI grape song?
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Speaker 1: I can't. There's too many Mister Blues. Bob Mosley sings
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Speaker 1: the song mister Blues that I just love bitter Wind,
11:18
Speaker 1: I Am Not Willing. My dad was actually just telling
11:20
Speaker 1: me that all these songs, of course, not all my record.
11:24
Speaker 1: I love all the ones on the record too, but
11:26
Speaker 1: the I Am Not Willing has a fun story. My
11:29
Speaker 1: dad at the time was living with well later, Jean
11:33
Speaker 1: Louis was a dress designer in Hollywood for all the films,
11:37
Speaker 1: and he ended up marrying my grandmother very later in life.
11:40
Speaker 1: They were just best friends, you know, and that both
11:42
Speaker 1: their spouses had gone, so they just you know, finished
11:45
Speaker 1: their life together. But Jean Louis and his wife at
11:47
Speaker 1: the time, Maggie Louis, were kind of like my parents,
11:49
Speaker 1: my dad's second parents, and he was staying with them,
11:53
Speaker 1: I don't know, if just for a visit for a
11:55
Speaker 1: few weeks. And that time, Rudolph Muriev had just come
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Speaker 1: to America and he was a friend of the Louis
12:01
Speaker 1: and so Rudolph Muryev was staying with them too, and
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Speaker 1: they had Maggie Louis was a concert pianist, and they
12:09
Speaker 1: had this beautiful grand piano in their living room and
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Speaker 1: my dad was just sitting at the piano one day
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Speaker 1: and Rudy half Muriev was sitting by the piano and
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Speaker 1: he wrote, I am not willing and it is like
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Speaker 1: John Dinicole actually covered this track. Will Coe has covered
12:22
Speaker 1: the song and it's a beautiful song. If you haven't
12:24
Speaker 1: heard it, look it up. It's just a really simple
12:26
Speaker 1: piano riff and then just some lyrics of my dad wrote.
12:29
Speaker 1: And then Jerry Miller does this really cool like guitar
12:33
Speaker 1: interlude and it's kind of simple, but it's a very
12:36
Speaker 1: hauntingly beautiful song. And then I have a fun story
12:39
Speaker 1: about Omaha too. The title for that came from Skip Spence.
12:43
Speaker 1: That's a Skip Spence song. And Skippy was meditating one
12:47
Speaker 1: day and like, are you familiar with like ohm like
12:49
Speaker 1: in yoga? Oh? Yeah, yeah, So Skippy was meditating and
12:53
Speaker 1: was saying oh and then he was like.
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Speaker 2: Ah, that's so cool. I think you mentioned that on
12:59
Speaker 2: the website too. I did not know that. Yeah, I
13:02
Speaker 2: like that story booked on rock podcasts. Will be back after.
13:06
Speaker 1: This, now you wait here, I'll be right back.
13:11
Speaker 2: Did your dad teach you? What did you learn from him?
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Speaker 2: Because my dad was a writer and he taught me
13:16
Speaker 2: so much about being a writer. My dad was a broadcaster,
13:18
Speaker 2: so he taught me so much about being a broadcaster. Like,
13:21
Speaker 2: what did you learn from your dad just by watching
13:24
Speaker 2: him or things he told you about songwriting or anything
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Speaker 2: involving music.
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Speaker 1: Well, I mean when I was young, I would I'd
13:34
Speaker 1: go to the studio with him a lot of the time.
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Speaker 1: We had a studio in our house. I think I
13:38
Speaker 1: was just that his his balladry, kind of like that type,
13:44
Speaker 1: because I think where I got my like familiarity with
13:48
Speaker 1: like music that really like moves your soul was kind
13:51
Speaker 1: of from hearing all his music, as all his music
13:53
Speaker 1: really does that. And so I mean that subconsciously just
13:56
Speaker 1: created some kind of familiarity with those types of song structures.
14:00
Speaker 1: But then later I really started learning music from him,
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Speaker 1: and I learned about like chord structures and different chord inversions,
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Speaker 1: how to arrange a song, how to arrange a rock song,
14:12
Speaker 1: how to arrange a ballad, how three guitars fit together,
14:16
Speaker 1: you know, and then how like you still leave room
14:18
Speaker 1: for the bass and drums, learn about harmony and just
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Speaker 1: like not yeah, like it's saying something unique, not doing
14:28
Speaker 1: the same thing over and over, like there was something
14:30
Speaker 1: that's really important.
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Speaker 2: That whole process is fascinating to me. Also, lyrics phrasing,
14:36
Speaker 2: how you're saying all that stuff is so fascinating to me.
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Speaker 2: What comes to you? Do you hear a melody in
14:42
Speaker 2: your head? Yeah? Start for you?
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Speaker 1: Uh, Well, usually I'm playing something on an instrument, most
14:51
Speaker 1: likely guitar, like a chord progression or something, and then
14:56
Speaker 1: I will write lyrics to that, and like the melody
15:00
Speaker 1: and the lyrics kind of just come naturally depending on
15:02
Speaker 1: like what chords I'm playing.
15:04
Speaker 2: Yeah, do you record everything when you're playing just in case?
15:08
Speaker 1: Yeah, Like I go on garage band and I'll make
15:10
Speaker 1: like a little demo or something, but I wouldn't sometimes.
15:13
Speaker 1: I mean sometimes if I'm like you know, or I'll
15:15
Speaker 1: like make a little cover and I go on YouTube
15:17
Speaker 1: and I'm like, look at me.
15:18
Speaker 2: But well, you know the Keith Richards story right with
15:21
Speaker 2: I can't get no satisfaction. Like he he had a
15:24
Speaker 2: recorder going and he and he started playing the riff,
15:28
Speaker 2: fell asleep, totally forgot about it. So the next morning
15:31
Speaker 2: he went back and played. He's like, oh, okay, thankfully
15:35
Speaker 2: he recorded that.
15:36
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, that's why you want to always record your
15:39
Speaker 1: good ideas.
15:40
Speaker 2: I want to ask about the title under the Stars,
15:42
Speaker 2: because your bio reads quote technically Armin lewis inhabits our
15:46
Speaker 2: blue planet, but so much about her beliefs and belongs
15:49
Speaker 2: in the celestial realm. What led to your interest in
15:52
Speaker 2: celestial beings and the stars? Oh?
15:54
Speaker 1: God, I've always loved it. Yeah, I mean I took
15:57
Speaker 1: an astronomy class in college. I was like, oh my god,
16:01
Speaker 1: why didn't I find this sooner? But it was like
16:04
Speaker 1: at the end and I was like, Okay, it's too
16:05
Speaker 1: late to be an astrophysicist. But I mean, I guess
16:08
Speaker 1: if I had it my way now, I just, you know,
16:10
Speaker 1: disappear and study the stars. Life would be easier that way,
16:13
Speaker 1: wouldn't it? Stars over people? And I'm just kidding, but
16:18
Speaker 1: I yeah, I just I've always been really interested in
16:21
Speaker 1: it because it's so vast and mysterious, right There's it's
16:25
Speaker 1: just and it also it's like when you if you
16:29
Speaker 1: think about, like, you know, what if I was just
16:31
Speaker 1: up there looking down, all of this is so miniscule,
16:33
Speaker 1: like you know, like all those you know, shots from
16:37
Speaker 1: Earth from like the Hubble or the James Webb telescope.
16:39
Speaker 1: It's like, if you look at it that way, it's
16:41
Speaker 1: like we're all just like mitochondria, and like that's I
16:46
Speaker 1: don't know. I think it's really an important philosophy to
16:49
Speaker 1: remember in life, like and it's it's it's crazy too,
16:51
Speaker 1: because like each one of us have these like incredibly
16:54
Speaker 1: important and very very complex you know, lived right, but
17:02
Speaker 1: at the same time, like it's all so minis school.
17:05
Speaker 1: It just depends on your perspective. And under the Stars though,
17:09
Speaker 1: came from just like every song, every story, and every
17:13
Speaker 1: song happened under the stars. It's kind of literal.
17:17
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's cool. I guess the singer, songwriter, a multi
17:20
Speaker 2: instrumentalist and podcaster. I should have mention Arvin Lewis and
17:24
Speaker 2: I mentioned that book on Skip Spence. Cam Cobb is
17:28
Speaker 2: the author, and he was on the podcast and he
17:30
Speaker 2: wrote a great book on Skip It's titled Weighted Down
17:35
Speaker 2: The Complicated Life of Skip Spence. And he also wrote
17:38
Speaker 2: a book called What's Big and Purple and Lives in
17:40
Speaker 2: the Ocean and will Be Grape Story? Have you read
17:42
Speaker 2: that one?
17:43
Speaker 1: I have not read either, and I didn't even know
17:45
Speaker 1: they existed.
17:47
Speaker 2: Well, he does them, you know, he does them. Well,
17:49
Speaker 2: I mean it's he's clearly a fan and it's written
17:54
Speaker 2: so well and respectfully. Has your dad ever thought about
17:57
Speaker 2: writing a book? Would you like to see him write one?
18:00
Speaker 1: Yeah, Like, I mean, he's a great he's a great storyteller. Yeah,
18:05
Speaker 1: that would be really cool his You know what, I remember,
18:09
Speaker 1: ever since I was little, you know, and my parents
18:12
Speaker 1: were raising my brother and I had we had bunk
18:14
Speaker 1: beds in my room, so like my brother would like
18:16
Speaker 1: come in sleep on the top bunk, and my dad
18:18
Speaker 1: would read us stories or just like tell us stories
18:20
Speaker 1: to go to sleep. Or you know, he'd take us
18:22
Speaker 1: on walks when we were kids for like hours up
18:25
Speaker 1: the beach or up rivers and you know, tell us stories.
18:27
Speaker 1: And that's just part of who he is. And I
18:30
Speaker 1: mean that's just engraved in his subconscious too, because he
18:33
Speaker 1: was raised around you know, Hollywood and film and he
18:36
Speaker 1: saw all the Broadway musicals when he was in New York.
18:39
Speaker 1: And I think that that element of story telling is
18:43
Speaker 1: just part of who he is. And he also that
18:46
Speaker 1: influenced his music a lot, especially the Broadway compositions. I
18:49
Speaker 1: feel like you hear you can hear that a lot
18:51
Speaker 1: in his music, the way chords move like sometimes, you know,
18:54
Speaker 1: like because like sometimes like certain sections of his songs
18:56
Speaker 1: will literally just like go into like another key, and
18:59
Speaker 1: like musically, I don't know, like it doesn't always like
19:03
Speaker 1: quote unquote make sense, but it sounds interesting. And I
19:08
Speaker 1: think that's why he's such a great composer.
19:09
Speaker 2: To and just the stories he could tell. He was
19:11
Speaker 2: part of such a great era in rock history that
19:15
Speaker 2: the San Francisco late sixties scene. Did you ever ask
19:20
Speaker 2: him about people that he knew and.
19:23
Speaker 1: Oh, yeah, he'll just start talking about it.
19:25
Speaker 2: Oh my god, yeah yeah. So was he buddies with
19:30
Speaker 2: the guys I Grateful Dead and all that.
19:32
Speaker 1: I mean, they played with them. They gave him a
19:36
Speaker 1: was a gretch. Have a picture of him playing a
19:38
Speaker 1: gretch that they gave him. I mean, he was, he played.
19:40
Speaker 1: He played with everybody a lot of like things that
19:42
Speaker 1: like weren't publicized, you know, played with Jimmy Hendrix. They
19:48
Speaker 1: like hung out with him, you know, and they were
19:50
Speaker 1: all staying in the same hotel. And he was like
19:53
Speaker 1: he was a bad mother. You don't mess Jimmy Hendrix.
19:56
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, good bad like bad a but yeah and
20:03
Speaker 1: he oh and then there was this place called the
20:05
Speaker 1: arc in Salcelito. It was an old like abandoned like
20:10
Speaker 1: ferryboat where they would perform shows and Mobi Grape would
20:13
Speaker 1: perform there. Crosby, Stills and Nash would perform there. They'd
20:16
Speaker 1: all just like have song swaps and things like that.
20:19
Speaker 1: So a lot of that music was you know, they
20:21
Speaker 1: were all around each other, influencing each other, just like
20:23
Speaker 1: we were talking about earlier. How like I thought like
20:25
Speaker 1: that Mobi Grape influenced punk. They were part of a
20:29
Speaker 1: scene with them, and they Mobi Grape has an album
20:32
Speaker 1: called Wow that They got the name from the album
20:36
Speaker 1: because David Crosby popped his head in the dressing room
20:39
Speaker 1: after one of their shows and he was like.
20:42
Speaker 2: That's awesome. Yeah, that is so cool. Yeah, Mobi Grape.
20:46
Speaker 2: But were I don't think Woodstock too? Were they?
20:50
Speaker 1: They were not Woodstock, They weren't in there.
20:52
Speaker 2: But were they asked to or that every I don't
20:54
Speaker 2: know what happened?
20:55
Speaker 1: I love, Yeah, I don't know what about.
20:59
Speaker 2: So you're the granddaughter of Oscar winning actress Loretta Young. Okay,
21:02
Speaker 2: so okay, so she's your dad's my dad's mom mom. Okay,
21:08
Speaker 2: did you have a close relationship with her?
21:10
Speaker 1: Yeah? I mean she passed away when I was twelve,
21:12
Speaker 1: But she was just my grandmother. I don't even know
21:16
Speaker 1: if I may. I guess I knew she was. I
21:18
Speaker 1: didn't even know what being famous meant. Yeah, So I
21:22
Speaker 1: mean we would just like hang out and watch we'd
21:25
Speaker 1: watch movies together. And she had Titanic before it came
21:29
Speaker 1: out on VH like before it came out, but she
21:31
Speaker 1: had the VHS because she was on the Academy board.
21:34
Speaker 1: I begged and begged and begged her to let me
21:36
Speaker 1: take it home. Yeah, and she wouldn't let me, but
21:39
Speaker 1: then she sent it to me in the mail like
21:40
Speaker 1: a week later. She's like, Okay, you can have it
21:41
Speaker 1: for two weeks and then you have to send it back.
21:43
Speaker 1: But then she didn't make me send it back. And
21:45
Speaker 1: she would always send us like she'd always get these
21:47
Speaker 1: like cool toys for whatever reason. So we always had
21:50
Speaker 1: like the quirkiest cool little like toys that nobody could find.
21:54
Speaker 1: So she was she Her thing was like she just
21:57
Speaker 1: wanted to, you know, make people feel joy. Brought her joy,
22:00
Speaker 1: to make people feel joy, and to be a good
22:02
Speaker 1: example and to lift people up. And she was she
22:05
Speaker 1: she was magical. She had the magical thing. But she was.
22:08
Speaker 1: She was also very Catholic, and she took me to
22:10
Speaker 1: confession when I was like ten, and I didn't know
22:12
Speaker 1: what to do, so I made something up.
22:17
Speaker 2: Well that's cool, that's cool. Well, this podcast focuses on
22:22
Speaker 2: books on rock. That's the title. So I'd love to
22:24
Speaker 2: know if you have any favorite rock and roll books
22:27
Speaker 2: that you've read.
22:28
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, there's what is that Willie Nelson? There's one.
22:31
Speaker 1: Let me, I'm here, let me all right. This is
22:33
Speaker 1: the podcast, right, yeah, her video.
22:35
Speaker 2: This video, she's getting up finding a book, folks. This
22:40
Speaker 2: is okay.
22:41
Speaker 1: Well a long story. Oh Willie Nelson, Yeah, this is
22:44
Speaker 1: a good one.
22:45
Speaker 2: What an amazing artist man. And he is still going.
22:48
Speaker 2: He is late eighties.
22:50
Speaker 1: Now, yeah, he's I've been to Lukenbach, but he wasn't
22:55
Speaker 1: there when I was there. Luke and Bach is I
22:56
Speaker 1: think he Yeah, he owns it. It's in and then
22:59
Speaker 1: he talks his book. He has his own town that
23:02
Speaker 1: he named Luck, So when you're in his town, you're
23:05
Speaker 1: in Luck.
23:07
Speaker 2: Yeah. What do you look for in a book that
23:10
Speaker 2: you know, especially if it's a autobiography, What do you
23:14
Speaker 2: hope that someone covers in their book?
23:18
Speaker 1: You know? That they find a way to tell like
23:21
Speaker 1: an intriguing story about their life in a way that
23:25
Speaker 1: I don't know, kind of shines light and purpose and
23:29
Speaker 1: gives inspiration to the person who's reading it, and you know,
23:31
Speaker 1: really tells a story about the human experience, however they
23:36
Speaker 1: experienced it.
23:37
Speaker 2: Yeah, I love that. And I also love just the
23:40
Speaker 2: minutia of how songs are written that.
23:43
Speaker 1: Yeah.
23:43
Speaker 2: Again, you know, I'm just fascinated with that. So I
23:46
Speaker 2: always love when you read books and they talk about
23:48
Speaker 2: the things, you know, that may have happened when they
23:50
Speaker 2: were recording the guitar solo or whatever, you know, how
23:54
Speaker 2: they wrote the song. By the way, Willie Nelson ninety
23:56
Speaker 2: one is he Yeah, born April twenty ninth, nineteen thirty amazing.
24:01
Speaker 1: It is just he's stellar.
24:04
Speaker 2: Booked on rock podcast. We'll be back after this. I listen.
24:12
Speaker 1: Now.
24:12
Speaker 2: Don't go away, ladies and gentlemen, we'll soon.
24:14
Speaker 1: Be with you.
24:17
Speaker 2: You take on the role of interviewer in your podcast
24:21
Speaker 2: The R When Lewis shows, will tell us about the podcast.
24:24
Speaker 1: Oh, the podcast has been so fun. It was completely
24:28
Speaker 1: not something I pursued or expected. The reason why I
24:32
Speaker 1: have it is because I was I was producing a
24:35
Speaker 1: concert series in built in California for a venue called
24:38
Speaker 1: the Hitching Post, and my executive producer, Jeremiah Higgins, wanted
24:43
Speaker 1: to interview Frank Ostini, the owner of the restaurant, because
24:47
Speaker 1: the restaurant was in this movie called Sideways. Have you
24:50
Speaker 1: heard of Sideways? It's like a whine movie by Alexander Payne.
24:55
Speaker 2: I may have seen it.
24:56
Speaker 1: It's it's kind of like one of those cult movies. Okay,
25:00
Speaker 1: but anyway, so Jeremiah wanted to interview Frank, and then,
25:04
Speaker 1: because I was producing the concert series, Frank was just
25:07
Speaker 1: really generous and he was like, Arwen, do you want
25:08
Speaker 1: to come on the radio show with me and talk
25:11
Speaker 1: about the concert series and talk about your music? And
25:14
Speaker 1: I was like, well, of course I want to do that.
25:15
Speaker 1: I love talking about myself now. And then so I
25:21
Speaker 1: did that, and Jeremiah invited me to bring all of
25:24
Speaker 1: the artists from the concert series on his show and
25:28
Speaker 1: co host and promote the concert series. And then Jeremiah
25:31
Speaker 1: was like, oarwhen you're so good at interviewing people, do
25:33
Speaker 1: you want your own radio show? And I was like yeah,
25:35
Speaker 1: like why of course, like my own radio show. This
25:38
Speaker 1: is terrestrial radio in Santa Barbara, California. So yeah, I've
25:43
Speaker 1: done over one hundred episodes. It's been a little over
25:45
Speaker 1: a year. And that stake that was called a station
25:49
Speaker 1: called KAZYSB, they sold, so we moved to primarily podcast.
25:53
Speaker 1: So I have a station on Pantheon, and we have
25:57
Speaker 1: so they distribute to all of the major podcasts patforms
26:01
Speaker 1: for us and then give us a station for each
26:03
Speaker 1: of the shows on Evolve Entertainment and then I'm also
26:06
Speaker 1: on six syndicated streaming stations for Radio Candy Media and
26:10
Speaker 1: so that's been really nice. And what I love about
26:15
Speaker 1: the podcast is just getting to meet so many talented
26:19
Speaker 1: musicians and getting to discover all all this great music.
26:22
Speaker 1: And you know, everybody's got their own story.
26:26
Speaker 2: And I was just about to say everybody's got an
26:28
Speaker 2: interesting story.
26:29
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's just it's awesome.
26:33
Speaker 2: Yeah, everybody. Everybody's life is interesting. I mean, it's it's
26:37
Speaker 2: it's just all about just you asking the right questions.
26:40
Speaker 2: I mean, is it somebody's always got some crazy story
26:43
Speaker 2: to tell or interesting story. By the way, the Pantheon.
26:45
Speaker 2: I do have friends who have podcasts on Pantheon, like
26:48
Speaker 2: my weekly mixtape. Okay, I know there's a few more
26:53
Speaker 2: Shout a Lout, Shout it out loud cast, the Kiss podcast.
26:56
Speaker 2: Those guys just put out a book. I'm talking to
26:58
Speaker 2: them in the week or two.
27:00
Speaker 1: Nice.
27:00
Speaker 2: So yeah, that's a good all the Rush Fan podcast.
27:03
Speaker 2: I love podcasts. I mean, I worked in radio for many,
27:06
Speaker 2: many years, and then when I started listening to podcasts,
27:08
Speaker 2: I was like, wow, this is this is what radio
27:12
Speaker 2: FM radio was like in the late sixties early seventies,
27:14
Speaker 2: like free form, no restrictions, no limits, like an empty canvas,
27:20
Speaker 2: and you just do whatever you want with it.
27:22
Speaker 1: And that's what I love about it totally. It's like
27:25
Speaker 1: it's like the new indie indie radio, or.
27:28
Speaker 2: Nobody's telling you you have to like a radio. They said,
27:31
Speaker 2: well you fifteen sec like we have the log and
27:34
Speaker 2: it would say you got fifteen seconds here, Max. That's it.
27:36
Speaker 2: You can't talk more than that, you know, or you
27:38
Speaker 2: have to read the line or note. And then with
27:40
Speaker 2: podcasting it's just you do whatever you want, which I love.
27:44
Speaker 2: I love. As for future goals, so I read that
27:47
Speaker 2: you're looking to eventually write and record in the realm
27:50
Speaker 2: of alternative music and some classical and jazz nuances. That's
27:54
Speaker 2: according to the website. So is that what I know
27:57
Speaker 2: you said you can't say specifically what's coming next, but
27:59
Speaker 2: it's that.
28:01
Speaker 1: Now what's going to be released coming soon? Yeah, No,
28:04
Speaker 1: but I mean I do, like I mean, I definitely
28:07
Speaker 1: want to make another record and want to find the
28:09
Speaker 1: right producer, Like I want to co produce it, you know,
28:11
Speaker 1: with somebody. I don't I don't know, I don't think.
28:14
Speaker 1: I don't know if I've met the person yet, but
28:16
Speaker 1: you know, I'll know when it's time. But I also
28:18
Speaker 1: want to, yeah, kind of extend my musicians ship, and
28:23
Speaker 1: I want before I do that, Yeah, like I want
28:25
Speaker 1: more freedom as a musician to be able to, I
28:28
Speaker 1: don't know, just create more and compose more in depth
28:32
Speaker 1: and more sophisticated music and then kind of work with
28:35
Speaker 1: somebody who can help me do that as well. And yeah,
28:38
Speaker 1: like I want to do with that again. I just
28:40
Speaker 1: don't know when that will happen, but I know it will.
28:43
Speaker 1: That's kind of like like I'm still performing and doing
28:47
Speaker 1: things like that. Like my dad and I and our
28:51
Speaker 1: bandmate George Adrien have like a songwriting trio that we've
28:54
Speaker 1: been working on for like ten years, and we were
28:57
Speaker 1: just finishing some live recordings, so me and Dea in
29:00
Speaker 1: Georgia performing tomorrow night. But yeah, I'm kind of ready
29:04
Speaker 1: to take a little break from performing. I feel like
29:06
Speaker 1: I've like plateaued, Like I don't want to keep doing
29:09
Speaker 1: the same thing over and over and over again.
29:11
Speaker 2: Okay, well like set list songs you're playing.
29:14
Speaker 1: Yeah, and like style, like the same playing the kind
29:18
Speaker 1: of the same way that I've just been doing. And
29:20
Speaker 1: I just feel like, yeah, I want to take something
29:24
Speaker 1: cause it's hard for me to create when I'm just
29:28
Speaker 1: kind of like doing and performing. You know, I'm focusing
29:31
Speaker 1: on something that I'm executing, Like it's easier for me
29:35
Speaker 1: to have, you know, my creativity to expand when that's
29:40
Speaker 1: the only thing that I'm allowing to happen musically and artistically.
29:44
Speaker 2: Well, that's what I wonder about bands and artists who've
29:46
Speaker 2: been around for a long time. How do they keep
29:48
Speaker 2: it interesting for themselves? Which there are bands like Grateful
29:52
Speaker 2: Dead that they're not they don't stick to the same
29:55
Speaker 2: setlist every night. But you know there are bands and
29:57
Speaker 2: artists like you got to play the hits you this
29:59
Speaker 2: is what the cour is going to be. How do
30:01
Speaker 2: you how does an artist, keep themselves motivated and keep
30:06
Speaker 2: that fire going. A lot of them will just say,
30:08
Speaker 2: as soon as they hit the stage and they play
30:10
Speaker 2: that song that they've played a million times, once they
30:12
Speaker 2: see the audience react that that matters. But how do
30:16
Speaker 2: you keep it interesting?
30:18
Speaker 1: Well, I mean there's a lot of money behind those people.
30:20
Speaker 2: He's talking about.
30:22
Speaker 1: Money is the answer. Yes, it smells like money.
30:25
Speaker 2: I'll do anything, right, Yeah, I mean no, but it's
30:28
Speaker 2: true though, like I know, a lot of guys, Yeah,
30:30
Speaker 2: we played that hit so many times, but once you
30:33
Speaker 2: start seeing to look on peop because there's a lot
30:34
Speaker 2: of people in the audience that have only heard that
30:37
Speaker 2: song for the first time.
30:39
Speaker 1: And that's true, like you are I mean, and I
30:41
Speaker 1: mean I don't have anthems like that, right, but I
30:44
Speaker 1: mean if you're like a queen or something, yeah, that's
30:48
Speaker 1: going to be fun every night. And I don't like,
30:51
Speaker 1: like I mean, I have people that I love playing with,
30:53
Speaker 1: but yeah, like I mean, if I had a group
30:54
Speaker 1: of people or somebody that was working with them or
30:56
Speaker 1: so excited and feeding off of each other, that would
30:59
Speaker 1: be you know, like when you're you know, and I mean,
31:02
Speaker 1: but that takes like support to like financial support and
31:07
Speaker 1: like buy your fans and buy a big label and
31:10
Speaker 1: being on a big tour Like that's kind of on
31:12
Speaker 1: a different level that I'm on. But I think if
31:14
Speaker 1: you're on that level, like yeah, it's exciting, like that's
31:17
Speaker 1: you know, amazing, But for me and I don't, I
31:20
Speaker 1: don't know that that's something that I'm concerned with. Like
31:22
Speaker 1: I yeah, like I'm like and I'm going and I'm
31:25
Speaker 1: performing in this festival on Friday too with in Santa Barbara,
31:30
Speaker 1: like with this other really accomplished artist. So like, I
31:33
Speaker 1: like playing with other people who play like in a
31:36
Speaker 1: way that I wouldn't think of that's like really sophisticated.
31:39
Speaker 1: That's that's really fun for me, and that's where the
31:42
Speaker 1: art starts to open up. So experiences like that are
31:45
Speaker 1: really cool. But I'm just kind of like a simple
31:48
Speaker 1: artist more than like an arena player. But I would
31:51
Speaker 1: like to play like in like really fancy theaters and
31:53
Speaker 1: cathedrals and like travel around the world and play and
31:56
Speaker 1: all like historic venues like that that have really spiritual energy,
32:00
Speaker 1: like with like a core group of musicians that you
32:03
Speaker 1: know you're conversing with musically. Yeah, that would be a
32:05
Speaker 1: beautiful experience.
32:06
Speaker 2: How far? How what's the longest distance you've gone to
32:09
Speaker 2: play a show.
32:11
Speaker 1: Well, I've gone. I'm in California, so I guess to
32:13
Speaker 1: New York, and then I go to Austin once a year,
32:17
Speaker 1: and then luckily I live around the corner from the
32:19
Speaker 1: club where I play once or twice a month, so perfect. Yeah,
32:24
Speaker 1: and I go to La San Francisco. Yeah.
32:26
Speaker 2: So where can people find you online? Where can people
32:29
Speaker 2: get your music? Let people know where where they can
32:32
Speaker 2: find you.
32:33
Speaker 1: Yeah, you can go to my website Arwin Lewis Music
32:35
Speaker 1: dot com. Or my Instagram is at Arwin Lewis and Facebook.
32:40
Speaker 1: I'm just under my name Arwin Lewis.
32:42
Speaker 2: Cool and the podcast too. People can find that. I
32:44
Speaker 2: think they can link up to it through your website too.
32:46
Speaker 2: I'm on your website right now.
32:48
Speaker 1: Not I update that. Yeah, but there's the Arwin Lewis
32:52
Speaker 1: Show dot Com. You can go there, and then Pantheon Podcasts.
32:56
Speaker 1: The Arwon Lewis Show has to channel on there, and
32:58
Speaker 1: then the Arwin Lewis Show. You can just google it
33:00
Speaker 1: on any of any of your favorite podcast platforms, and
33:03
Speaker 1: then there's an Instagram page of that too. At the
33:06
Speaker 1: arm of Lewis show.
33:07
Speaker 2: Great. Oh and thanks so much. This is great.
33:10
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for having me. This is very
33:12
Speaker 1: fun chat.
33:19
Speaker 2: No, no, that was an adventure. I was quite to
33:22
Speaker 2: show you put on the day. Well, let me just
33:25
Speaker 2: close this conversation by saying you are one unique individual.