Thriving Rockstar

Michael Abdow is an American guitarist whose playing is a mix of traditional and modern progressive elements. After spending a decade touring nationally and internationally, he arrives well-versed in jazz, all forms of rock and metal, and is recognized for his soulful character and technical ability. He has played the role of sideman, studio musician, collaborator, and band leader. We first got to know each other in 2017, when Infinite Spectrum toured with Fates Warning, who he played for at the time.

Guitarist, vocalist and songwriter Cory Young is 23 years old and was born and raised in California. His raspy voice, and blues guitar riffs grabs the attention of many. He was featured on Season 2 of American Idol. Cory is currently releasing several singles throughout 2020.

Caio Kehyayan is a Brazilian guitarist, composer, and mixing & mastering engineer best known for being the session/touring lead guitarist of Vital Remains, lead guitarist of Dovas, and founder of the Symphonic Metal band FireWing. Caio is also a Berklee College of Music graduate in Music Production & Engineering and has been working with recording, mixing and mastering since then. In addition to his musical pursuits, Caio is also an aspiring bodybuilder.

Lee Litvin, or better known as Leezythegifted is an independent artist and producer from The Bay Area, CA. He fully produces all of his own music. He learned production in an effort to gain full control over the process of making his music. Leezy has also made it his mission to help entrepreneurial musicians achieve their dreams.

Adrienne Cowan is an American metal vocalist, poet, and musician best known for being the lead vocalist and orchestrator in the band, Seven Spires. She also sings for Avantasia, Masters of Ceremony, and plays keyboards in Winds of Plague. Adrienne is a Berklee College of Music graduate who has toured internationally and maintains a prodigious musical output.

Born in 1990 in Caracas, Venezuela, Tracy Lambertucci began playing guitar at age 15 and started performing at 16. After studying with some of the best jazz artists in her country, she moved to LA to where she graduated from Musicians Institute with honors in Performance with a minor in Audio Engineering. Tracy has since been an active touring artist playing with many renowned performers and has been featured in radio/TV shows such as Rolling Stone, Billboard and many others.

Bassist Damian Erskine has played in the studio or on the stage with artists such as Peter Erskine, Vince Mendoza and the WDR Big Band, The Jaco Pastorius Big Band, Les McCann, Jeff Lorber, The Buddy Rich Alumni All-Star Band, & many others. He is an adjunct professor at Portland State University in Portland, Oregon. In addition, he regularly teaches abroad with Jazz Education Abroad and recently launched BassEducation.com, an online platform on which he offers a subscription based video lesson library.

Shauna Fallihee is a Classical new music specialist and voice teacher in the San Francisco Bay Area. She's a two-time marathoner and instructor of alignment-focused Barre and Indoor Cycling. In addition to her M.M. in Vocal Pedagogy, Shauna holds certifications in Yoga, Myofascial Release, and deep meditation studies in the Theravada tradition. She's synthesized all of these modalities with traditional voice teaching into Embodied Singer.

Kenny Werner is a Grammy nominated pianist and composer and a 2010 Guggenheim Fellowship recipient. He has performed with jazz greats such Dizzy Gillespie, Charles Mingus, Bobby McFerrin, John Scofield, and many others. Kenny put out over 30 CDs as a leader & composer for many major Jazz Orchestras worldwide, including the BBC orchestra. He wrote "Effortless Mastery: Liberating the Master Musician Within" and is now the artistic director of Effortless Mastery institute of Berklee College of Music in Boston.

Born in 1980, Marco Sfogli is credited as one of the most influential and followed progressive rock and metal guitar players of the last few years. he’s worked with artists such as James LaBrie, Jordan Rudess, Mike Mangini, Bryan Beller, Guthrie Govan, Kiko Loureiro, Stu Hamm, Virgil Donati and many others. Many know him as the guitarist for the James LaBrie solo band. He has several charting solo records himself which are favored among prog fans. He regularly tours and releases music worldwide.

Dr. Benjamin Hardy is an organizational psychologist and bestselling author of Willpower Doesn’t Work. His blogs have been read by over 100 million people and are featured on Forbes, Fortune, CNBC, and many others. He is a regular contributor to Inc. and Psychology Today and from 2015-2018, he was the #1 writer, in the world, on Medium.com. He and his wife Lauren adopted three children in February 2018 and, one month later, Lauren became pregnant with twins, who were born in December of 2018.

Andy Timmons is a world renowned guitarist who toured the world with Danger Danger opening for Kiss and Alice Cooper, sold over a million records worldwide, and had two #1 videos on MTV, plus amassing a discography of 7 solo releases that range from blazing guitar instrumentals, to blues, and even a Beatles/Elvis Costello-inspired collection of pop tunes. As a session player, he’s played on many internationally acclaimed CDs. Andy shares the stage with guitarists such as Steve Vai and Joe Satriani.

Dani Rabin was born in 1985 in La-Jolla CA and grew up in Rehovot, Israel. He moved back to the states in 2003 to study at Berklee College of Music. in 2007 he met Danny Markovitch and started the band Marbin. Marbin is a progressive jazz-rock band based in Chicago, touring extensively since 2011. Through word of mouth, Marbin has gained hundreds of thousands of devoted fans all over the world and has sold tens of thousands of albums. Marbin has released eight albums and regularly plays in clubs all over the US and in jam and jazz festivals over the world.

Austin Lucas is an accomplished second generation songwriter, and Muay Thai enthusiast from Bloomington, Indiana with a rich history in the music industry for over 20 years. His last album, Immortal Americans was written after a tumultuous period that found Austin getting sober, losing 100 lbs, supporting his partner through a battle with cancer, and breaking up with his longtime record label. He has deep roots in both punk and folk. Austin is a truly inspiring individual and I loved picking his brain!

Brianne Borden is a trumpeter on an international level. As a certified yoga instructor, Brianne teaches and regularly leads trainings through CorePower Yoga. Brianne melds her two passions and is a devoted researcher in the field of wellness for musicians. She has published multiple articles and created workshops on ways to incorporate yoga into a musician’s lifestyle in order to counteract repetitive motion injuries, battle performance anxiety, and live a healthier life. 

Sarah Draper is a multi-instrumentalist and artist currently based in Baltimore MD. She founded, does vocals and plays guitar in the progressive band Anchor Thought. When shes not playing guitar, she enjoys oil painting and being active outside. Look out for a new LP from Anchor Thought in late 2020!

Wyatt Stav is a drummer and content creator from Toronto, Canada. His rapidly growing YouTube channel features content ranging from drum covers to lessons, interviews with other drummers, product reviews, reactions, and fitness. His story is one of sheer dedication and hard work. The video that caught my eye was titled “Why I wake up at 2am”, where he broke down his schedule at the time, being a prolific content creator while still working a full time job and maintaining a great physique! Since then, he has become a full time YouTuber shares many gems in this episode.

Angela McCuiston is a Certified Personal Trainer and Corrective Exercise Specialist, Senior Fitness Specialist and Cancer Exercise Specialist and owner of Music Strong, a business that specializes in personal fitness training for musicians. She is also an avid flutist with a Masters of Music in Flute Performance from Florida State University. Among other accolades, Angela completed a 16-year tenure in the 129th Army Band in Nashville, TN.  She recently published her first book: The Musician’s Essential Exercises, with plans to branch out into instrument-specific volumes in the near future. Her expertise and accolades are too many to list here. Enjoy this episode with Angela McCuiston!

This episode is Rusty Osborne. Rusty helps musicians lose weight and feel great forever, so they can look, feel, and perform their best on and off the stage. After overcoming obesity and unhealthy habits for himself and numerous clients, he knows first hand what works and what doesn't work when it comes to getting healthy amid the chaos of a musician's life. When he’s not helping other musicians, he also plays 140+ shows a year with Southern California based country band Redneck Rodeo.

Craig Stickland is a singer and instrumentalist who has performed in front of millions. We spoke about the importance of finding a manager, acting, modeling, bartending, working with an M.D. on his voice, training on tour and in venues, building and touring in a sustainable sprinter van, being an entrepreneur and building his own studio furniture company, minimalism, responding to all his DM’s, writing constantly and avoiding writers block, learning during found time, being authentic and more!