austin

October 13 2025

Lew Apollo – Neo Soul Singer / Songwriter (Fool’s Gold)

Steve Owens podcast austin, BlkOdyssy, Die For You, Fool's Gold, Jungle, Lew Apollo, Los Lonely Boys, Mello Jaxsn, mental health, minnesota, Neo Soul, Orb Studios, P. Terry, singer, singer songwriter, songwriter, streetwalker, suicide, tattos, Tx Burger Battle, Whataburger

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Lew Apollo
Take a walk with me down Fascination Street as I get to know Minnesota / Austin musician Lew Apollo.
In this episode, Lew and I chat about his growing up in Minnesota, and what made him decide to move to Austin, Texas. Naturally, I ask him about his tattoos, and what they mean. Then we move onto a good ol’ Texas burger slap fight! Lew and I go round and round, /1/4 pound for 1/4 pound about who has the best fast-food burger in South Texas; Whataburger or P. Terry’s. Then we get into his music. Lew’s new debut album is called Fool’s Gold, and is a 9-track journey through heartache, acceptance, and finally contentment. We discuss a few of the tracks individually, and he even lets me play his most talked about song from this record. Lew does talk about learning from and being mentored by Austin local legend Blk Odyssy. We touch a bit on Lew’s previous E.P. called Jungle, and what that title means to him. Sadly, we do discuss some rough subject matter related to his father’s passing, and how this tragedy reframed the feeling and meaning of some of the songs he wrote before the event. Lew Apollo has a unique, original sound, and I can’t stop playing his music in my house! Special shout out to Victor Gaspar, Orb Studios, and Rey Roldan at Rey Bee Publicity.

April 7 2025

Jonathan Grossman (Johnny Keys) – Keyboard (Uncle Lucius / Sleepy Jon / The Guthrie Girls)

Steve Owens podcast All The Angelenos, Arlo Guthrie, austin, Gruene Hall, JGrozzz, Johnny Keys, Jonathan Grossman, Keep The Wolves Away, kentucky, Kevin Galloway, Lexington, Like It's The Last One Left, rock & Roll, Sam's Town Point, Sleepy Jon, songwriter, The Guthrie Girls, Uncle Lucius, yellowstone

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Jonathan Grossman

Take a walk with me down Fascination Street as I get to know Jonathan Grossman. Known in some circles as Johnny Keys; Jon is the keyboard player for the rock band Uncle Lucius. Jon is from Kentucky, and how he became part of this kickass south Texas band is a good story, I get him to tell it to me in this episode. We discuss his growing up in Lexington and what he was doing after school before the universe aligned, and Uncle Lucius rolled into his town. We also chat about other bands that have keyboard players in them, and even some fake movie bands that do. Uncle Lucius took a bit of a break a few years ago, and then through a series of magical events, they were almost forced back together. The television show Yellowstone happened to feature an Uncle Lucius song in the fourth episode of the first season. The song caught fire all over again and made the band look into getting back together to see what they had left in the tank. As it turns out, they had quite a lot. Since then, they have released 3 more albums and just recorded yet another one a few weeks ago live at Gruene Hall. I ask Jon about the royalty implications of having a song blow up on a TV show like that, and he gives HUGE props to Austin attorney Gwendolyn Seale! One of their more recent albums is called ‘Like It’s The Last One Left’ and features one of my favorite Uncle Lucius songs (All the Angelenos). Jon is gracious enough to let me play that song, and their massive hit (from Yellowstone) called Keep the Wolve Away. Naturally, we talk about the live show at Gruene Hall, why they haven’t headlined at world famous Stubb’s in Austin, and Uncle Lucius’ insane touring schedule. We end the show talking about some of Jon’s other work. He releases music under the name ‘Sleepy Jon’, as well as performing live at Sam’s Town Point (south of Austin) EVERY Wednesday that Uncle Lucius is in town. Three members of Uncle Lucius are in this weekly performing band with some of Arlo Guthrie’s daughters. The band is called The Guthrie Girls. For tour dates and new album information, check out YourUncleLucius.com

February 22 2021

Jax Hollow – Singer / Songwriter / Guitarist

Steve Owens podcast angela lese, austin, covid, cruise, cruise ship, drift together, Guitarist, jax, jax hollow, lese, michael wagener, music, music city, musician, Nashville, new artist, new music, rock, Rock and roll, rock chick, Rock n roll, say my name, spotify, taylor swift, underdog anthems

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Jax Hollow.
Take a walk with me down Fascination Street as I get to know Jax Hollow. Jax is a singer / songwriter, and face melting guitarist. In this episode we chat about growing up in rural Massachusetts, moving across the country to go to school in Berkley, and then across the country again to live in Nashville. She tells us why she chose Nashville, and what it was like to have the legendary Michael Wagener produce her first studio album (AVAILABLE THIS FRIDAY!). We discuss the album; and Jax lets me play my favorite track from it. Buckle your seatbelts… this is a great ROCK album!
Special THANK YOU to previous guest and friend of the show Angela Lese for making this happen,
Follow Jax on social media:
Twit: @JaxHollowMusic
Insta: @JaxHollow
FB: Jax Hollow
TikTok: @JaxHollow

Buy the album at: JaxHollow.com

January 18 2021

Vyasar Ganesan – Teacher / Docuseries Star (Indian Matchmaker)

Steve Owens podcast austin, author, eddie van halen, food network, indian, indian matchmaking, indian-american, indianamerican, Indianmatchmaking, interview, lasa, lasa high school, matchmaking, nerd, nerd stuff, netflix, teacher, vegetarian, vyasar, vyasar ganesan, Wolfgang van halen, writer

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Vyasar Ganesan
Take a walk with me down Fascination Street as I get to know Vyasar Ganesan. Vyasar is a teacher at a very prestigious high school in Austin, Tx. HOWEVER…. you may ALSO know him as one of the stars of the first season of the smash hit Netflix series Indian Matchmaker! In this episode Vyasar and I chat about growing up as an Indian American in Texas, and why he got into teaching. We spend a short time discussing his stint working for The Food Network in NYC before we get into his time on the Netflix show; why he did it, what his experience was like, and if he would do it again. Vyasar may very well become my new best friend. We had such a great time talking that this could easily have been a 3 hour conversation. What a pulled together nice guy. Seriously, you’re welcome!
Follow Vyasar on social media:
Twit: @NotVyasarG

Check out his writing at: VyasarWrites.com

November 2 2020

Tamara Pennington – Key Note Producer / Podcaster (Affected By…)

Steve Owens podcast actress, affected by, affected by pod, aniston, austin, Bts, edward snowden, event planner, friends tv show, key note, live event planner, marty yu, nooner podcast, oprah, pennington, podcast, podcaster, producer, seinfeld, snowden, stand up comedy, stephen krueger, tamara krueger, tamara pennington

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Tamara Pennington
Take a walk with me down Fascination Street as I get to know Tamara Pennington.
Tamara is a live event and key note producer, who also happens to be married to one curmudgeonly fellow. In this episode we chat about Tamara’s path to becoming a live event producer after a few short careers as a stand up comedian and an actress. She tells stories about performing at The Comedy Store, her big acting break on the hit television show Friends, and for some reason she cant stop bringing up her ex boyfriend WhatsHisName! Finally we end the show talking about her new podcast called Affected By… in which she and her co-host Pavel talk to folks in varying industries about how they have been AFFECTED BY Covid; and how they “cope, pivot, and make it work”. Tamara is quite charming folks; you will love her!
Follow Tamara on social media:
Twit: @PinkEve
Insta: @MrsTamaraKrueger
FB: Tamara Pennington
Follow her podcast:
Twit: @AffectedByPod
Insta: @AffectedByPod
FB: Affected By

October 19 2020

Mobley – Musician

Steve Owens podcast a home unfamiliar, artist, atx, austin, austin city limits, covid, foster the people, james crow, mobley, music, musician, singer, songwriter, south by southwest, sxsw

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Mobley
Take a walk with me down Fascination Street as I get to know Mobley.
Mobley is a singer / songwriter in Austin, Tx. In this episode we chat about growing up living all over the world and how that helped frame his views and passion for life and music. We also talk about what got him into music, and what Covid 19 did to his profession and income. Mobley is kind enough to let me play his new single James Crow! Make sure to follow Mobley because when he is allowed to…. he WILL be touring like crazy!!
Follow Mobley on social media:
Twit: @MobleyWho
Insta: @MobleyWho
FB: Mobley
Website: MobleyWho.com

March 30 2020

Colton Valentine – Street Artist / Muralist

Steve Owens podcast art, artistic, austin, colton valentine, graffiti, kobe, memorials, murals, nipsey, painter, San Antonio, street art, street artist, texas, valentine

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Take a walk with me down Fascination Street as I get to know Colton Valentine. Colton is a street artist and muralist I met in San Antonio. In this episode we chat about how he got started in art, in street art, and we then move on to some of his previous and current subject matter. We were recording in Colton’s back yard while he was setting up and beginning his 6ft x 6ft Kobe Bryant piece; which was supposed to be on display at South By South West in 2020.
Follow Colton on social media:
Twit: @Colton_Valentine_
Insta: @Colton_Valentine_
FB: @Colton_Valentine_
Tiktok: @Colton_Valentine_

March 24 2019

Jaiden Rivera – Podcaster (Talk Time Radio)

Steve Owens podcast aceholes, acs, adamcarolla, adamcarollashow, austin, endlessrant, endlessranters, exoticpools, exoticpoolsatx, fascinating, fascination, fascinationstreet, fsp, heavycream, inspire, interview, jaidenrivera, nsng, podcast, podcastaddict, podcasting, podcastlife, podcastone, streetwalker, talktime, talktimeradio, texas

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Take a walk with me down Fascination Street as I get to know Jaiden Rivera. In addition to owning his own business called Exotic Pools, in Austin, Tx; Jaiden has his own podcast called Talk Time Radio AND is the co-host of another podcast called Endless Ranters. In this episode we chat about both of those podcasts, and what made him decide to start them, as well as his pool company and we bond like school girls over our mutual affinity for The Adam Carolla Show!

Follow Jaiden on social media:

FB: Jaiden Rivera (Austin)

Twit: @TalkTimeRadio1 & @EndlessRanters

Check out Jaiden’s podcasts: Talk Time Radio & Endless Ranters

In the market for a private beach in your backyard:

ExoticPoolsATX.com

January 12 2019

Stephen Krueger – Screenwriter / Podcaster – (The Nooner Podcast)

Steve Owens podcast austin, california, ding dong, ding dong chomp, dingdong, dingdongchomp, fascinating, fascination, fascinationstreet, film, fsp, gary oldman, hollywood, inspire, interview, krueger, Los Angeles, marty yu, mirp, nooner, nugget, oldman, podcast, podcast addict, podcast hq, podcaster, podcasting, podcastlife, Podern family, producer, screenwriter, smodcast, smodco, stephen krueger, streetwalker, television, texas, writer, writing, writinglife

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Hey guys, T.V. and movie writer and podcast host Stephen Krueger was kind enough to invite me into his home shortly before he moved away from the great state of Texas. We had beers, conversation, and lots of fun. He can regularly be heard on NOONER podcast on the Smodcast Podcast network.

Follow Stephen on social media:

Twit: @StephenKrueger

Insta: @StephenKrueger

November 25 2018

Viet Nguyen – Director (Flash / Legends of Tomorrrow)

Steve Owens podcast acting, actinglife, actor, actorslife, arrow, arrowverse, atlanta, austin, branchdavidian, centralcity, cicada, crushtheskull, cwtheflash, directing, director, fascinating, fascination, fascinationstreet, flash, fsp, inspiration, inspire, interview, izombie, lucifer, podcast, podcastaddict, podcaster, podcasting, podcastlife, robthomas, streetwalkers, vietnguyen, waco 0

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In this episode I chat with Viet Nguyen. Viet is a film maker who grew up in Austin, Tx, and had a VERY influential high school teacher (Rob Thomas; creator of Veronica Mars, izombie, etc). In this episode we talk about growing up in Austin, his continuing relationship with Rob Thomas, as well as his feature film CRUSH THE SKULL, and his foray into directing some of the best television shows currently on tv including izombie, The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow, and Lucifer.

Follow Viet on social media:

Twit: @VietNguyenTx

Insta: @Viet_NguyenTx

FB: Viet Nguyen

Watch Crush The Skull on Amazon Prime: https://amzn.to/2Tgw5oj

Check out some of Viet’s work by searching Crush The Skull on YouTube.