Carrying on the legacy of a musical family

By Sue Baldani

Growing up with a father who was a very successful record producer, Dann Rogers was used to being around famous entertainers. “My dad, Lelan, was promoting people like Mickey Newbury and Bobby Vinton and all these famous R&B acts,” he says. “They were always in our house, and it was a very special sandbox for a kid to play in.”

It’s no wonder Dann ended up writing, producing and singing music. “I wrote my first hit when I was 15 for Johnny Nash called My Merry-Go-Round. John Lennon sent me a personal message that it was the greatest song he ever heard.”

His Uncle Kenneth, or as the world knows him, Kenny Rogers, was also a huge influence on his career. “He and I were the first two related artists to ever be on the Billboard Top 10 at the same time. He had Coward of the County at number five, and I had Looks Like Love Again at number six. He was proud of me.”

Dann’s music is soulful and full of meaning, and he says he finds inspiration wherever he feels connected to God. “My music comes through me, it’s not of me. I do not want my music to define my life; I want my life to define my music. I don’t write songs unless they move me and I believe they’re going to move somebody else.”

He’s actually thrown some songs away. “Glen Campbell pulled a song of mine out of the garbage, recorded it and had a hit with it,” says Dann. “He told me to never throw away another song until he hears it.”

Dann will also write songs and then put them away for years. He wrote Lesson in Love, around 2010, but only released it last year. “It kept nagging at me and I was also seeing what was going on in the news,” he says. “I felt God telling me it was time to release it. If just one woman who is contemplating abortion decides not to go through with it, then has the child and falls in love with it, then the song will have served a higher purpose.

“I did it from a point of empathy. I can’t imagine what it would be like to be a woman and have this dilemma, even though I went through it with an old girlfriend and have lived with that regret for years.”

Some of the other songs that resonate with him are Let Go and Be Still and Unlovable. “Another song, It’s Life, is me coming to terms with life and love,” says Dann. “Then there’s a song I wrote while I was in a deep depression called When I Hurt. Writing songs is definitely a healing process for me.”

Although Dann now spends most of his time in Southern California, he travels to the area a few times a year and is contemplating doing one more tour. “I would definitely pay tribute to Kenny during the show,” he says.

DannRogers.com

Written for Franklin Lifestyle magazine in Tennessee.

Filling our lives with stories, laughter and love

By Sue Baldani

“I grew up listening to Z100 [100.3 FM] when it was the Z Morning Zoo,” says Skeery Jones, on-air personality and executive producer of Elvis Duran and the Morning Show. “From the time I was 8 or 9, I would call in, try to win contests and request songs just to hear my voice on air.”

Before calling, he’d make sure he had a cassette tape ready to record so he could listen to himself afterwards. This passion for radio continued as he grew older. As a junior at Brooklyn College, he did an internship with Cousin Brucie at WCBS FM radio and also had his own radio show at the college station, WBCR. While working there, he made a phone call that would change his life.

“We found out that CDs were being stolen from our college radio music library,” says Skeery, “We had no real catalog system, and I wanted to see if there was a way of keeping track of the CDs to prevent theft. So, I made an innocent call to Z100 and asked for the music director, which was very brazen.”

It turned out that the director, like Skeery, was from Brooklyn and they had a lot in common. He not only helped him with the theft issue, but also invited him to interview as a phone operator. “I drove to Z100, and here I was trying to contain my excitement, because I had listened to this station my entire life. I was freaking out when I got there. They showed me around, asked me some questions and hired me on the spot!”

That was in 1995, and although he was still in college and only working part-time, he was often paired with Elvis Duran, who was doing an afternoon show at the time. A year later, he graduated from college, Elvis was moved to mornings, and Skeery was about to join one of the most successful radio morning shows of all time.

“It was me, Greg T and Danielle all in similar roles – answering the phones and doing whatever was asked,” he says. “They were putting together this new morning show and later that summer they offered me a full-time job to work with Elvis and Elliot [Segal].” He was on his way.

Now, 27 years later, Skeery is still thrilled to go to work every day. “Elvis is super kind to everybody, and he’s a very unselfish talent. He allows other people to shine and develop their personalities and stories. He is the star of the show, of course, but he’s confident in the sense that he was able to build this incredible ensemble cast.”

He says they all work together as a team and have a chemistry that is magic. “Danielle is my radio sister; she just so kind and generous,” he says. “Froggy and Nate are also a great part of the main show and Gandhi is one of the newest members. How she has been able to come into that role after our show has been going on for so long speaks volumes about the kind of person she is and how connected we are. We all spend a lot of time together and genuinely love each other.”

For listeners who have tuned in for many years, this morning crew feels like family. “We’re in a situation now where many top artists grew up in this area and when they come into the studio, they are almost as excited to meet us as we are to meet them,” says Skeery.

Lady Gaga is one of these fans. “When she comes into the station and she has the headphones on and hears Danielle’s or Elvis’s voice, she stops what she’s doing. She says, ‘I just have to take a moment. I grew up listening to you, and I was so obsessed with this show that when I used to have to go to school, I had  my mom record the rest of the show on cassette tapes. She had to flip the tape over every 45 minutes.’”

Today, Elvis Duran and the Morning Show is on 85 stations around the country. “We’re owned by iHeartRadio, but we’re not just radio,” says Skeery. “We’re podcasts, we’re streaming. Today, when you work in radio, you’re working in pretty much every media.”

In addition to the radio show, he’s also involved in two popular podcasts. He hosts The Brooklyn Boys once a week with former morning show colleague and fellow Brooklyn native, David Brody.

“It’s not a podcast about Brooklyn,” he says. “It’s our offbeat take on the world and things going on in our lives and pop culture seen through the lens of two guys from Brooklyn. We debate things, we argue, and we riff on each other in a playful way. We’re uncensored, so we can get away with more and be a little bit more risqué. That’s our playground – our fun little treehouse.”

He hosts Speaking Volumes with long-time friend Cher (Cheryl) Cosenza as well, which is a lifestyle pop culture podcast about everything from friendship, relationships and fashion to entertainment, pop culture and more.   

Skeery moved to New Jersey when Z100 was stationed here, and when the show relocated to New York, he stayed. “I’m a social butterfly and I love that New Jersey is accessible to everything,” says Skeery. “You can go upstate, you can go across the state to Pennsylvania, and you can go down to the Jersey Shore. It has beautiful beaches, and I love spending time in Asbury because of the revitalization. There’s a lot going on there. I also love the towns like Morristown, Red Bank and Hoboken. I love the different neighborhoods, the different communities. Plus, I can easily pop into the City.”

@SkeeryJones

@ElvisDuranShow 

@iheartradio 

@thebrooklynboys 

@speakingvolumespodcast
#iheartradio 

#Z100

Published in Chatham & Short Hills Lifestyle magazine in New Jersey.

Raise a glass to friendship, family and fun

By Sue Baldani

When you order a beer at Glenbrook Brewery in Morristown, chances are you’ll be enjoying an award-winning recipe. And, if it hasn’t won one yet, it probably will soon. Heath Traver is the head brewer who has won a total of 15 awards over the last few years.

It all started innocently enough back in 2011 when his brother-in-law Skip bought him a beer kit for Christmas. “When I started brewing I really enjoyed it,” says Heath. “I shared it with friends and family, and then started getting larger equipment and brewing five gallons at a time instead of one.” All this brewing took place at his home on Glenbrook Road in Morris Plains.

After winning his first award in 2015 for his Jockey Hollow Pumpkin Ale™, he knew that he wanted to take it further. Partnering with his other brother-in-law, Darren Cregan, who has a background in art and advertising, they opened Glenbrook Brewery in 2021.

The brewery’s tagline is Revolutionary Beer ^®. “We decided we were going to build the brewery around all the revolutionary history in Morristown, so we started naming our beers after local landmarks and national parks,” says Darren. For example, one beer is called Lewis Morris^™ Exploration Ale and another is Tempe WickFarmhouse Sour^™. If you’re not sure which beer to try, order a flight (or two) with small tastes of different options.

The beautiful tables and other wood fixtures found throughout the brewery were made by their friend John who owns Heirloom Woodworking, a mill in NJ. He uses ash trees that have been devastated in the region.

Private parties can be held at Glenbrook, and the two partners will sometimes close the entire brewery to hold fundraising events. They can also take the beer on the road to special events with their traveling tap system. They’ll be the sole beer provider for the Morris County Pride event in June and for other upcoming events.

In addition to serving great tasting beer and hard seltzer, their other main goal is to make the large 5,000 square foot open-concept brewery family friendly. There are board games to play, and Heath also makes a birch beer in house for kids. They want families like theirs to be able to come in and have a good time together.

The two men, who married sisters (Heath’s wife is Amy, and Darren’s wife is Cari), each have two daughters, (Heath and Amy have 14-year-old Emma and 12-year-old Charlotte, and Darren and Cari have 9-year-old Chloe and 8-year-old Courtney). Their summer beer, Four Blondes Summer Shandy, which recently won a gold medal, is named after their daughters.

Pets are always welcome on their patio, and on Mondays and Tuesdays, they can even hang out inside the brewery. Of course, service animals are allowed anytime.

While under state law breweries cannot provide food, there are plenty of menus available from the many restaurants around town. Most will even deliver.

The brewery is open daily. Visit GlenbrookBrewery.com for more information.

Written for Morris City Lifestyle magazine in New Jersey.

A world-renowned artist creates paintings that feed the soul

By Sue Baldani

As a multi-Grammy award winning drummer for the Grateful Dead, Mickey Hart has had an amazing musical career. But what some people don’t know is he’s also an extremely talented visual artist. “I have synesthesia, which is more than one sense working together,” he says. “I can see the colors of the music.”

For Mickey, it’s all about vibration. “Music is vibration; rhythm is vibration; everything in life is vibratory. That’s why my paintings have meaning because they represent the vibratory universe in which we live. We’re embedded in a world of rhythm.”

When he’s creating art, his process is very unique. “I find the paintbrush to be too limiting to my sense of flow,” he says. “I use gravity, and each piece is vibrated and drummed into life. That’s why they call it vibrational expressionism.”

He uses multiple colors when he mixes paint, and explains the only way these colors can come through to the surface is by using vibration. “I’ll drum the sides of the canvas or I’ll put them on a subwoofer and vibrate the subwoofer using a Pythagorean Monochord, which they call the Beam. It’s a multi-stringed instrument that brings art into life – it’s born in the vibration.”

Adds Mickey, “It’s about the rhythm, the flow, like water. Water is wild, it goes where it wants to go. It bends, slides, glides and becomes a sinuous rhythm snake. It’s slightly out of control, never fully harnessed, and totally directed to fruition, and that’s the way I like to create. It’s a language of paint.”

For him, pouring and using paint in different applications are roadmaps to a higher consciousness. Many of the images come from his dreams and the cosmos. “I use my dreams in my work,” he says. “During the day, I work with sounds from the cosmos or from the whole earth – things that are just around – and then I translate them and turn them into light. These works are physical representations of sound.”

He finds the whole process calming. “It’s meditative for me,” says Mickey. “Everything disappears and I’m just alone with it. That’s magic. When I’m using my visual side, it’s a real joyful moment for me. Just like it would be with the Grateful Dead or Dead & Company. I like to be in the moment.”

He doesn’t consider making art entertainment, but more of a spiritual event. “It’s more like seeing your consciousness rise to the surface,” he says. His artwork is also not just about the images. “They’re about what they do to people and how they interpret them. That’s the gold; that’s the payoff.”

If you don’t have an emotional connection with the image, then it’s just a static thing, explains Mickey. “The image itself is important, but the most important thing is what you get from the image. If it just sits there, it has very little meaning. But, if it pulls you in and you meditate on it, just have some fun with it, I think it will do some good. That’s probably the best that I could ask for.”

He expresses hope that his images, his sounds, and his rhythm make a better world and create an atmosphere of kindness.

On July 23, Mickey will be appearing in person at Wentworth Gallery Short Hills for a private reception and exhibition of his amazing works. His full collection will be on display and available for acquisition beginning June 1st.

“This is brand new stuff and completely different than what I’ve done before,” he says. “My technique has progressed and I’ve become better.”

Mickey is also the author of two books and continues to explore and learn every day. “Art keeps you young,” he says. “Music keeps you young.”

WentworthGallery.com

Published in Morris City Lifestyle magazine in New Jersey.