Tales from the Green Room

In this episode, Tales From The Green Room presents their conversations with Joe Marcinek and Jeremy Hoenig recorded before their respective performances during Jazz Fest 2025 in New Orleans – featuring two  musicians swimming in the same music circles in the San Francisco Bay Area and nationally - and both connected with Melvin Seals!   Marcinek joins the show before his stellar appearance leading Dead Funk Summit during the Crawfish Festival at The Broadside, and is joined by soulful percussionist, drummer, vocalist, Rick King – a member of the Summit on this day.  King talks about getting drawn into the Grateful Dead vibe, including with his own band, Rick King's Royal Hustle, elaborating on how magic happens on stage with Marcinek.
 

Hoenig sits down with the hosts before holding down the beat on drums at his gig with Melvin Seals & JGB at Café Istanbul -  made possible by venue host Mitch Stein, responsible for curating a stellar lineup of musicians at the venue during Jazz Fest.

The Marcinek segment – recorded the very day his new album, The Groove Sessions, was released -  delves into Joe’s late entry into music, his love for New Orleans sounds, the evolution of his Dead Funk Summit project now taking on a life of its own, and the special energy created by different musicians joining the venture around the country - including the likes of George Porter, Jr. and the aforementioned, Melvin Seals. The Crawfish King, Shaggy Davis, even makes a cameo during the interview! 

Hoenig talks about his own musical journey  from being inspired by his father's record collection to his current gig with the iconic Seals, playing with Camille Boudin of The Radiators, and reflects on “falling into the groove” playing beats the first time he entered the New Orleans music scene. Jeremy identifies a cadre of his favorite New Orleans drummers and how playing with Melvin Seals & JGB is the perfect fit for him.
 

Joe Marcinek, Rick King, and Jeremy Hoenig go in depth sharing their experiences in the music scene, their love for improvisation, and the collaborative spirit they embody, providing for a heartwarming and informative episode.

HIGHLIGHTS

When you have a band that plays all the time, it's easy to kind of go through the motions…where if you've never played together or it's something new, everyone's really locked in. Are we hitting the changes? Are we going to the move? Any little change that a musician does, that's when the magic happens.
-Joe Marcinek on brining in different musicians to his "Dead Funk Summit"

I read something about Miles Davis saying, “ I don’t talk to my musicians about music, because if I would have to talk to 'em about it, I hired the wrong people in the first place. And I always think about that.
-Rick King on the possibility of creating situations where magic can happen on stage among musicians, if you talk too much about it.
 
You can imagine how proud I am  to be playing this music, which for me has all the styles that I love, and  the music I gravitate towards. It's blues, it's funk, it's reggae, it's jazz, it's country. It's all these rhythms. And Jerry knew, when he had his own band, he wanted to explore all those different things. So that's why I feel it’s a very good fit for me… and personally, I just, I enjoy it. It lets me have everything that I love in one band.
-Jeremy Hoenig on being a member of "Melvin Seals & JGB"

PHOTOS

Backstage Photos at NOLA Crawfish Fest – 4.29.25 – by Appelbaum Images

SPONSOR SHOUT OUTS

Special Thanks to Son Vo  (Jerry’s Middle Finger) for his expert audio engineering skills editing the interview with Joe Marcinek and Rick King- recorded in a very noisy, outdoor backstage area at the Broadside in New Orleans during the Crawfish Festival - making this episode possible! 

Son Vo is also a talented writer! Check out his compelling story, now available as an audiobook: Tales of the Mekong Delta Bluesman - Autobiography of Son Vo

@sonvosongs

Special thanks also to Mitch Stein - producer of JazzFest after shows at Café Istanbul - for welcoming us to the venue and accommodating our interview with Jeremy Hoenig! 

Checkout and download Mitch’s DEADSHOWZ App – The most powerful mobile Grateful Dead search engine on the planet! 

31 Aug – Sunday Is Dead – Harlan Records, Outside Show,  San Francisco, CA 4pm – 7:15pm    
w/ Angeline Saris, Dylan Teifer, Jerry Saracini, Jeff Hobbs, Jen Freebairn)