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August 2022

Jason Nix

By Fun, Music No Comments

This episode is sponsored by:

You know his music, you just might not know you know his music. If you love Lainey Wilson’s “Things a Man Oughta Know,” you’ll love this episode. Jason wrote that song and many other hits. He joined Gary in this week’s episode to share stories behind his songs, stories from when he was growing up, and much more.

In this episode:

  • “Things a Man Oughta Know”
  • The song idea that came up during the interview
  • His new song Mary Wanna
  • Pushing through fear
  • Jobs he had on the way up
  • Sleeping in his car
  • What songs with minor chords do
  • Why he never looks at the charts
  • The best kind of sad song

Quotations:

“It’s good to see somebody win.” ~Jason NIx

“I think you should tell people if somebody asked you where you grow up, it should be the place where you got your heart broken for the first time. And it was Mississippi for me.” ~Jason Nix

“I think everything has got an expiration date, you know; we have an expiration date. My career has an expiration date, but man, I’m having a really great time doing it right now.” ~Jason Nix

“You gotta tell a story with the music. My goal was when we were doing this and writing these songs, I’m thinking, ‘okay, If I can, if I could play this song without singing the words, would it still make somebody feel the same thing that the words were saying?’” ~Jason Nix

“Minor chords do open an entire world of like melodic possibilities.” ~Jason Nix

“Laney is unapologetically herself.” ~Jason Nix

“We’re gonna say the same thing that’s already been said before. So how do we do that in a different way?” ~Jason Nix

Guest’s Bio:

Born in Nashville and raised in South Mississippi, Jason Nix grew up on a blend of his musical father’s Bluegrass and his mother’s love of Motown while introducing his own passion for Classic Rock into the mix. It’s no surprise then that his return to Music City just after high school led to the creation of a sound all his own, driven by his strengths as both a guitar player and a lyricist. 17 years later, having established himself as an award-winning, in-demand songwriter and earning cuts from artists ranging from Keb’ Mo’ to Lainey Wilson (including the recent ACM Song of the Year “Things A Man Oughta Know”), Nix now presents himself as a must-hear artist with the brand-new release “Mary Wanna.” Written by Nix together with Driver Williams as the first in a series of concept songs coming soon, the song introduces the free-spirited character of Mary while also introducing Nix himself. 

“I had ‘Mary Wanna’ written down as a title for a long time before I pitched it in a write because I wanted to save it to write with Driver Williams,” notes Nix. “From the word ‘go,’ or in this case, ‘Mary,’ I never wanted the song to be about marijuana. I remember how fast the song fell out, and as I started working on the demo, I didn’t want to stop. We wound up using most of the parts I recorded in that 12×12 guest bedroom on the actual record.”

“‘Mary Wanna’ is the song that got my wheels turning again on releasing music as a solo artist. I love the way it makes me feel,” he adds. “I’ve always wanted to a concept album, and ‘Mary Wanna’ paints a very clear picture of what Mary’s role will be in this story. She’s a rebel who feels trapped by her parents’ idea of who she should be; she feels smothered by her community’s expectations of how a young woman should act. She is desperately looking for the freedom to find out who she is, even if it means breaking some hearts along the way. This song is the cornerstone for a project I didn’t realize I was starting at the time and was born from a personal experience that I never intended to write about. Mary gave me the opportunity to write about the things I’ve been holding onto for years.”

Guest’s Contact Info:

https://www.jasonnixmusic.com

Chester L. Richards

By Author, Sci-Fi, Science, TV No Comments

This episode is sponsored by:

Calling all Star Trek fans! Chester L. Richards, the co-writer of “The Tholian Web” episode of Star Trek, joins in the conversation, and it’s fascinating!! Some of his stories are almost unbelievable like the story about almost being killed by the great potato, the Colorado River, a crocodile, a crazed gunman…

In this episode:

  • What it was like when a rocket engine blew up
  • Working with the royalty of the industry
  • Meeting astronauts
  • Making something that’s actually space-qualified
  • What hooked him on science
  • His UFO encounter
  • SR71 planes
  • UFOs or swarms of insects?
  • How he came up with the Tholian Web
  • What he thinks of William Shatner
  • What he thinks about the newer Star Trek
  • The closest to death he’s come
  • How his wife’s eulogy affected him
  • Losing his wife

Quotations:

“That’s one of the things I hope comes through in the book. I talk about some very, very interesting people in that book–some in the rocket business and in some of the adventure travels I’ve had over the years.” ~Chester L Richards

“I’ve been privileged to see a couple of [rocket] launches.” ~Chester L Richards

“I had a deal with the local, regional library that I got first dibs on every science fiction book that came into the library.” ~Chester L Richards

“It turns out that there are clusters of insects that get electrified, and they glow in the dark, and a number of UFO sidings have now been attributed to these swarms of insects.” ~Chester L Richards

“I didn’t use to be a fan of Shatner, but I am now I have to tell you he’s a good guy, and he’s a fine actor. He really is a funny, talented, funny actor.” ~Chester L Richards

“When I see work [scripts] that is a little slip shot, I kind of get turned off by it. On the other hand, some of the stuff can be really a lot of fun, and you just say, ‘Well, oh, what the heck? You know, it’s a fantasy, and you go with it.’” ~Chester L Richards

You can sit in your house all day long and not have a very rich life, or you can go out and do things. Yeah, there are some hazards, but the richness you gain as a result more than compensates for the hazard that you experience.” ~Chester L Richards

“The more stories that I wrote, the more comfort I had, and I gradually was able to rebuild my life and get back to some kind of a normal psychological perspective through the process of writing these stories.” ~Chester L Richards

“I felt totally hollow when she [wife] passed away.” ~Chester L Richards

“You don’t have a fully rich life without the darkness.” ~Chester L Richards

Guest’s Bio:

Prior to retirement, Chester L. Richards was an Engineering Fellow at Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems Division. At Raytheon, he was Chief Architect for Advanced Concepts and Architectures. Before joining Raytheon, Mr. Richards had an engineering consulting business. His diverse technology career spans half a century.

At the beginning of his professional life as a scientist, Mr. Richards invented and patented the first successful automatic focus sensor using real-time image analysis. It was used in aerial reconnaissance cameras.

Subsequently, while at the Ford Aerospace Corporation, Mr. Richards was Chief Engineer for Strategic Systems. At Ford, he developed the flight instrumentation for the AGNT space flight and re-entry experiment. Mr. Richards invented and patented the Holographic Optical Element, which is widely used in large aperture adaptive optics telescopes. Mr. Richards also invented and successfully field-tested sub-resolution tracking techniques, which improved tracking accuracy by two orders of magnitude.

During part of his career, Chester L. Richards served as a System Engineering Technical Assistant (SETA) consultant to the U.S. Government. In this role, Mr. Richards developed the modern Space-Based Laser architecture for the Strategic Defense Initiative Organization. He was a member of SDIO’s Mission Analysis Working Group and its Innovative Science and Technology group. As SETA, he helped define the functional architecture of Schriever Space Force Base and wrote the Statement of Work establishing the requirements for the base.

For the Air Force, Chester L. Richards created the definitive high-fidelity sensor model for the DSP satellite series. In addition, he developed high-precision target tracking techniques for the Hover Test Facility at Edwards Air Force Base.

At Raytheon, one of his most important discoveries was the complete quantitative theory of bistatic radar, which previously had been only partially understood. This led to multiple fielded applications.

The technical interests of Mr. Richards include system architecture, space systems, physical optics, high energy lasers, image processing, radar, ergonomics, and jet and rocket propulsion.

Other activities include: Co-author of “The Tholian Web” script for the third season of the original Star Trek series. 

Chester L. Richards has a Bachelor’s Degree in Physics from UC Berkeley and a Masters in Physics from UC Irvine. He completed all coursework for PhDs in both Physics and Engineering at UC Irvine. Mr. Richards has 19 patents. His latest patent is for a centrifugal gas generator for gas turbine engines. 

Guest’s Contact Info:

https://www.chesterlrichards.com

Dr. Thomas Sheahen

By Author, Education, Faith, Science No Comments

This episode is sponsored by:

Get ready, science lovers! (and even non-science lovers) This episode is about to blow your mind. Dr. Thomas Sheahen joined Gary to talk about the relativity of time, how science always points to God, and much more!

In this episode:

  • Consciousness, the higher functions of mankind
  • Our view of time vs God’s view of time
  • The comprehension of total time
  • False gods
  • How religion and science can both be right
  • The possible existence of UFOs & aliens
  • How the moon affects us
  • There’s a great intelligence behind “coincidences”
  • Constraints humans impose upon God
  • Possible realities of different versions of Hell
  • Quantum Mechanics

Quotations:

“The appearance or the publicity surrounding the idea that scientists or atheists is really mistaken and very misleading. Everyone who really looks carefully into science at a very high level. Finds that the upper reaches of research and so forth are pointing again and again and again to the fact that God created science; he invented it, he thought it up, and it is his accomplishment that we, as scientists, are studying.” ~Dr. Thomas Sheahen

“An awful lot of science is very similar in that we think we’ve accomplished something wonderful, and we have made real accomplishments–look at medical science, for example; it has been wonderful, but we do appreciate what a huge gulf there is between what we can do and what God has already done in creating nature.” ~Dr. Thomas Sheahen

“Any scientific theory is always subject to revision. There’s no such thing as final when you’re talking about science.” ~Dr. Thomas Sheahen

“Human beings are indeed capable of consciousness, understanding, thought of will, and of love. And to direct that love back to God is the intention of creation.” ~Dr. Thomas Sheahen

“What I’m preaching here with this book to everyone is to be humble. Be appreciative of the fact that God is smarter than us. And he is better than us, and he can do things that we can’t even comprehend.” ~Dr. Thomas Sheahen

“Time is the falsest god of all.” ~Dr. Thomas Sheahen

“When they think that God is limited in time, when God is subordinate to time, then they have placed a false God before God, which is forbidden by the commandments.” ~Dr. Thomas Sheahen

“All the people who insist on six-day creationism, they don’t understand relativity. They’ve got no concept of time dilation or different timeframes. And it’s a real shame that that very brilliant idea has escaped the attention of so many people.” ~Dr. Thomas Sheahen

“I think our space exploration is going to be done with robots for many, many years to come.

“I have to, again, underline my own limitations that I see things through the eyes of a person from the 20th and 21st century. And that’s limited.” ~Dr. Thomas Sheahen

“There’s a big difference between my science and the science of the future.” ~Dr. Thomas Sheahen

“Accept your human limitations. Don’t try to tell God what to do because we’re on a much lower plane of intelligence than God is.” ~Dr. Thomas Sheahen

“There is a real Hell, and we need to think at a higher level in order to learn about it because we’re not getting there by just ordinary human imagination.” ~Dr. Thomas Sheahen

​​”I encourage you to keep exploring and keep thinking and keep dreaming up new ideas yourself.” ~Dr. Thomas Sheahen

“Why are we here? What is life all about and so forth? You will not find the answer by thinking at an ordinary human level. You’ve gotta think at a higher level; you gotta reach your thinking in the direction of God in order to understand what it’s all about. But in every case, science is gonna point us toward God. And that’s really, really important.” ~Dr. Thomas Sheahen

Guest’s Bio:

Dr. Thomas P. Sheahen is vice president of the Science and Environment Policy Project (SEPP), Director of the Institute for Theological Encounter with Science and Technology (ITEST), and president/CEO of Western Technology, Inc., an independent consulting firm specializing in energy technology issues with business implications,

From 2005 – 2009, Dr. Sheahen served as a Senior Analyst in the Systems Integration Office of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. From 1993 – 2002  he was a senior scientist in the Energy Systems Group for Science Applications International Corporation, where he led a team of evaluators in selecting renewable energy projects for support by NREL. He previously held positions with Argonne National Laboratory, Energy Research Advisory Board to the Department of Energy, SRI International (Stanford Research Institute), Congressional Office of Technology Assessment, National Bureau of Standards, and Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Dr. Sheahen is the author of Introduction to High-Temperature Superconductivity  (Plenum Press: 1994). His research papers have appeared in many peer-reviewed scientific journals, including Physical Review, Applied Optics, Journal of  Technology Transfer, Reviews of Modern Physics, Energy the International Journal, Strategic Planning, and Energy Management, and The Science Teacher.

Dr. Sheahen has co-authored numerous reports on topics including rocket re-entry instrumentation (Bell Labs), industrial instrumentation and analysis of measurement economics (Industrial Nucleonics), research program plans (National Bureau of Standards), industrial energy conservation (Office of Technology Assessment), national energy policy planning (DOE), and renewable energy technology (SAIC).

Dr. Sheahen holds B.S. and Ph.D. degrees in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 

Guest’s Contact Info:

Julie Stevens

By Fun, Music, Uncategorized 2 Comments

This episode is sponsored by:

Julie’s back! In this episode, Gary and Julie introduce you to some new artists you’ll love and talk about what’s changing for women in Country Music.

In this episode:

  • Why Julie gets mad when she deep dives on music
  • What Julie is excited about for women in Country Music
  • What made Shania Twain such a big star
  • Chris Stapleton’s anger at the industry
  • The Chris Stapleton interview Gary had to throw out
  • Why they love Hailey Whitters
  • Laney Wilson’s style
  • William Beckman
  • Hunter Girl
  • Bailey Zimmerman
  • Walker Hayes
  • Drake Milligan
  • Colter Wall
  • Morgan Wade
  • How Covid helped the music industry
  • The last Country artist to be able to make all their money off record sales

Quotations:

“I think the women in country music have had trouble defining who they are.” ~Julie Stevens

“I really don’t think it has anything at all to do with how well you can sing.” ~Julie Stevens

“It was Covid…the fact that they had a chance to be home and just sit down and really think things out is the reason we’re getting such great music right now.” ~Julie Stevens

“I can’t quit you. [Gary]” ~Julie Stevens

“We are becoming more and more stylized. That’s why a Walker Hayes can exist now.” ~Gary Scott Thomas

Guest’s Bio:

Mom, Program Director of 95.3 KRTY, Co-Host of KRTY Morning Show

Guest’s Contact Info:

https://www.krty.com