Inside MusiCast

Music runs deep with Bonnie Hayes. Growing up, her home was filled with music, and two of her brothers also traveled down a musical path: Her brother Chris was lead guitarist for Huey Lewis & The News, and brother Kevin was the drummer for the Robert Cray Band. As a young musician, Bonnie's focus was jazz, and one of her first jobs was teaching music at the Blue Bear School of Music in the Bay area. From there, she sidetracked into punk and new wave and started The Punts in San Francisco, which later became Bonnie Hayes with the Wild Combo. If you've seen the 1983 movie "Valley Girl", you'll hear the song "Girls Like Me" at the start of the film, along with "Shelley's Boyfriend." However, songwriting and education became Bonnie's focus, both for herself and for other musicians. Many of her songs were picked-up and recorded by a variety of artists, including Bonnie Raitt, Cher, David Crosby, Natalie Cole, Adam Ant, Huey Lewis, Bette Midler and many others. In 2013, Hayes became chair of the songwriting department at Berklee in Boston. In 2022, she returned to the Bay Area to found a youth All Star Songwriting Program at Blue Bear School of Music. To talk more about her extensive career in the music business, Inside MusiCast is pleased to welcome Bonnie Hayes.

Steve Farris is a man of a thousand...acres. After an incredibly successful music career, Steve turned his focus to his second love: Land. He's shaped thousands of acres of land into a fish and wildlife service where he worked in several states developing, designing, and building habitat and wetlands restoration. He's even been hired by the Fish and Wildlife Service, along with Ducks Unlimited, to lend his expertise to their organizations. And while he's officially retired from music, he still employs lessons he's learned from music into this second career. On this episode of Inside MusiCast, Steve reminisces about his path through the music business, the connections he made along the way, and that fateful audition that landed him the gig in Mr. Mister. Inside MusiCast is pleased to welcome Steve Farris.

Drummer, vocalist, and one of the founding members of The Blackbyrds, Keith Killgo has had music running through his veins since he was four-years-old. By the time he turned 11 he had already played drums with such greats as Sonny Stitt, Stan Getz, Miles Davis, Woody Shaw, Bill Hardman, Art Blakey's Band and Eddie Harris. His piano teacher? None other than Roberta Flack. Music was Keith’s destiny, and this path led him to meet Donald Byrd and the formation of The Blackbyrds in 1973. With a fusion of R&B, blues, and jazz, the band had several notable songs, including “Do It Fluid”, “Happy Music”, “Rock Creek Park”, and their Top 10 hit “Walking In Rhythm”. Here to chat about his amazing career in music, as well as his role as an educator, is Keith Killgo.

Rob Arthur’s career in music has taken him from his roots in Minnesota, to the coasts, and with a variety of connections and collaborations. But in 2001, Rob made a connection with Peter Frampton that has lasted for a quarter century, and continues to grow. Rob has been a part of Peter’s touring band as a keyboardist, guitarist and vocalist, and has served as his music director. But Rob’s talents go beyond music, and it was his interest in telling stories, combined with his passion for videography, that led to the production of a documentary about Peter Frampton’s life. Rob began filming footage of Peter’s Finale tour in 2019, but soon realized that a deeper story could be told. The result is a nearly 100-minute documentary about the life of one of the most prolific rock stars, and debuts on June 4 at the Tribeca Film Festival. Inside MusiCast is pleased to welcome Rob Arthur.

Robert Margouleff is a man of many talents with a vast career in the music and entertainment industries. The Grammy Award-winning engineer/producer, studio owner, and filmmaker is also an early synthesizer pioneer, and was a customer, friend and collaborator of fellow New Yorker and music instrument pioneer, Robert Moog. From there, he met bassist Malcolm Cecil, and the two developed the first, and still the largest, multitimbral polyphonic analog synthesizer in the world, TONTO. With this experience and pioneering reputation, Margouleff played a key role with synthesizer programming for Stevie Wonder's "classic period" in the early ‘70s, as well as the 1980 album "Freedom Of Choice” by Devo, including its hit song “Whip It.” Robert has chronicled his vast career with a new book titled “Shaping Sounds”, which is due to be released on May 19, both in print from Jawbone and on audio from Pushkin. Inside MusiCast is pleased to welcome Robert Margouleff.