Hello friends!

The rumors of my being in a Russian prison are incorrect.

I haven’t been very active on ye’ old Substack of late. For no particular reason other than life. And while I would love to tell you I’ve been busy doing fantastic things, that would be dishonest. Suffice to say, it’s been a challenging 12 months here at Thunderlove Manor. The details aren’t important, but I can promise you it involved nothing illegal and I spent zero time in a Russian prison... or any prison for that matter.

(Thunderlove Manor… not really, this is Richard Branson’s old mansion/recording studio The Manor.)

I’m forever grateful to Geoff Calhoun, the co-host of the podcast, for being a such a rock. Without him, it’s quite possible I would’ve pulled the plug on Center Stage a few months ago. But alas, we soldiered onwards and upwards and will continue to do so.

To that end, we’ve posted four new episodes since last we met. You can check them out below:

Seth Timbs from Fluid Ounces

By pure accident, Center Stage is fast becoming the audio archives of Spongebath Records and singer/songwriter and piano player Seth Timbs was there from the first day.

Bill McShane of Ultimate Fakebook

Ultimate Fakebook is a punk pop/pop punk/power pop band (or some kind hybrid of the three) that carved out a niche in the 90s and still continues playing and writing today.

Music Supervisor Tricia Halloran of the Brave New World Substack

Many thanks to

Kevin Alexander

for his interview with Tricia, which prompted us to reach out and have her on the podcast.

Dave Paulson

Dave took creativity on a journey as he wrote an album of songs dedicated to the Chris Farley movie “Tommy Boy.” Yep, you read that correctly. And you know what? It’s really good.

We also have some upcoming episodes we’re excited about.

Sure, I could punch something into ChatGPT and have it write me something, but that’s not the purpose of this. The main purpose of this article is less to promote the podcast, and more about trying to get back into the habit of writing again - however brief it may be.

When you step away for a period of time, as I have, it can be a real bitch to get back to it.

I need to spend less time thinking and more time doing.

Many thanks to these guests, to all of our guests, and to everyone who listens and especially to those reading this right now.

Cheers!
Keith