There's a little story I like to tell about The Soundtrack of Our Lives (TSOOL), and since I just posted the interview with their keyboardist, Martin Hederos, I think now is a fine time to tell it here.

I first saw TSOOL play live in Providence, RI in 2003. Because they had just played a show 50 miles up the road in Boston the night before--and because it takes some unknown amount of arm-twisting to make the Providence kids get off their couches and go to a live show-- there were very few people at the venue. I'd say 30 or 40 in a club designed for 300. Tumbleweeds.

Some bands might see the poor turnout, turn the amps to 2, and phone it in. Not The Soundtrack of Our Lives! NO! They rocked as though they were performing to an arena of 10,000! Absolute, total professionals!

Lead singer Ebbott did have some fun with the "unique" crowd dynamic, enticing the entire audience to follow him in a little pack from the left side of the stage to the right. The rest of the band held nothing back. The guitarists strike every epic rockstar move ever created. And I have to say that Martin has the coolest (or should I say hottest?!) moves of any keyboard player, ever!

After the show, I hung around to see if any of the band members were into cooking (this was in the heady early days of my Cooking with Rockstars project), and when word got to Martin, he came bounding over enthusiastically saying how much he loves to cook and eat and that he'd love to be on the show. If only I had brought my camera.

It took five years for TSOOL to make it back to the US and for me to get my interview with Martin. The band's live show that day at La Zona Rosa was just as huge as I had remembered. The band and their keyboardist did not disappoint.

Hey everybody! I finally realized my dream of being on my brother's music & comedy podcast, Lynchland. He was nice enough to have me on a Viewer Mail episode (#10) to talk about Cooking with Rockstars. We had a good time chatting in front of the green screen, and I asked him to surprise me by putting something in my hand. You'll have to watch it for yourself to see what he came up with (naturally, it's something I never could have predicted!).

If you are not already watching Lynchland, start today! I'm partial to Episode 16, but #15, #18, #19, and #20 are must-sees too. You can subscribe to it through iTunes or get it at LiamLynch.net.

One of my favorite things about interviewing YACHT was that Jona Bechtolt was the first of my rockstar guests to be impressed by my Geek Cred. When I introduced my camera person (and one of my personal music gurus), Maura Johnston, as my “Web 1.0” friend, Jona responded “What, did you meet on a Web Ring?!”

That gave me an opening to say that I was a designer for the first commercial web site (Global Network Navigator) back in early ’93 and that I had written a number of web design books for O’Reilly. These little tidbits of my personal bio might fly over the head of anyone else, but Jona—a well-known geek himself—was wide-eyed with appreciation… he made ME feel like a rockstar!

After hitting it off right away, we went on to have a lively chat about the usual food stuff. I think you can tell how much fun I was having. But I suspect that Jona and Claire have fun like that wherever they go… being positive is part of the YACHT brand. You definitely get back what you give.