Behind every song, there's a story. After every concert, there are tales to be told. On Sound Proof, I find the stories musicians hide in their lyrics and the ones they only tell their best friends. And you can eavesdrop, you can be my "best friend" when we tape 12 new episodes of Sound Proof over the next four weeks. On November 12th, 13th and 14th — and again on December 3rd, 4th and 5th — you are invited to join me at Victory Studios for jam-packed evenings of jams and con

While I never fully "got" Chuck Barris, I was always intrigued by The Gong Show; I loved the immediacy and (in?)sensitivity of the judgments provided by the likes of Phyllis Diller, Rex Reed and Rip Taylor (aka The Three People Paul Lynde will meet in Heaven). Perhaps that program was the inspiration for "What's Wrong with this Picture?," an event I have been hosting annually at the Northwest Filmmakers Festival since 200? Only in this case, I hog all the roles to myself as f

Some films — actually, all of my favorites — can be classified as character-driven vehicles. Not sure what to do with THE FAST & THE FURIOUS series which has now devolved into a completely vehicle-driven parody of itself. Just check out the trailer for FURIOUS 7. That said, maybe when your stars are Vin Diesel and company, it's better to build stories around the stunts? What do YOU think? #thefastthefurious #furious7 #vindiesel #characterdrivenstories

Who knew foregoing a PowerPoint presentation would be such a popular move? I can't stand slidedecks and bullet points so, at this year's edition of the Seattle Interactive Conference, I spoke extemporaneously, sharing the basic tenets of my approach to storytelling and how story impacts and influences everyone, professionally and personally. The response was deeply flattering and the reviews quite edifying. Check out these capsule summaries from Flip The Media and gothamCultu