Everyone agrees that music and the arts are essential — they make us smarter, more empathetic, more human. You’ll hear it in every school mission statement, every campaign speech, every conversation about what “really matters” for kids.

And yet, walk into most public schools and the first thing on the chopping block is still the music program. It’s as if we all nodded our heads in agreement and then quietly decided to spend the money somewhere else.

Our guest today, Anthony Mazzocchi, has built a career trying to change that equation. He’s a GRAMMY®-nominated music educator, trombonist, and now the Executive Director of Kaufman Music Center in New York City which is home to the nation’s only K–12 public school with a full music-focused curriculum.

Anthony’s story is one of those rare intersections where the orchestra pit meets the classroom. From leading 100 middle schoolers in a cramped Brooklyn band room to shaping one of the most respected music education programs in the country, his life’s work is a masterclass in how music transforms learning, and how learning transforms lives.

We talk about what it means to teach through sound, why access to these skills still feels like a luxury, and how to build institutions that teach lessons that transcend music itself.

So pull up a chair, maybe dust off your old band instrument, and join us for a conversation about the future of education; one built on rhythm, resonance, and maybe a little bit of rebellion.

There’s a question that’s been circling the music world for a while now — and it’s only getting louder: how does a new artist actually get heard today?

Because if you look around, the industry that once thrived on risk and discovery now seems to cling to nostalgia like a life raft. Major labels and festival lineups read like a roll call of the same veterans — the safe bets, the proven draws — while entire generations of emerging voices wait at the edges, wondering where exactly the door went.

But out there, between the boardrooms and the barrooms, something else is happening. A quiet recalibration. Small venues, artist collectives, and independent promoters are starting to rebuild the ecosystem from the ground up: one room, one night, one new artist at a time.

That’s where today’s guests come in.

Cat Henry is the Executive Director of the Live Music Society, a nonprofit working to keep small venues alive, the kinds of places where artists first find their voice and communities gather to listen. Her organization has been putting real financial and logistical muscle behind those stages, including their support for the tour we’re talking about today.

Tom DeGeorge, COO of D-Tour, helps connect a network of independent venues and promoters across the country, giving artists and local scenes a fighting chance to operate outside the corporate machine. He’s one of the key architects behind this tour’s routing and strategy.

And at the center of it all is Jenna Fournier, known to fans as Kid Tigrrr - the headlining artist whose creative fingerprints are all over this project, from the music itself to the visual identity and storytelling that tie it all together. She represents that very question we started with: how does an independent artist break through today — not by chasing the algorithm, but by maybe by building something that feels real?

Together, we’re talking about the D-Tour and Live Music Society collaboration - One Night Live - what it says about where live music is heading, the economics of trying to make it sustainable, and whether the next generation of artists can still carve out their space in a world dominated by the past.

Because if there’s still a way forward for new live music, this might just be what it looks like.

This episode feels like a meeting across time — the past, present, and future of vinyl commerce sitting down for a conversation. On one side of the table, there’s Chad Kassem — the founder of Acoustic Sounds, Analogue Productions, and Quality Record Pressings — a man whose passion for high-fidelity sound and meticulous craftsmanship helped revive the vinyl industry when nearly everyone else was going digital. And on the other side, there’s me — a fella who just opened The Sharp Notes, a new brick-and-mortar record store in Paramus, New Jersey, and who’s still figuring out what it really takes to run a record business day-to-day.

This isn’t just a story about vinyl records; it’s about building something real — from passion and persistence to payroll and pressing plants. Chad’s been doing this for decades, navigating every boom, bust, and comeback that the format has seen. So in this conversation, we dig into both the romance and the reality of running a vinyl empire: the nuts and bolts, the risks, the grind, and the enduring love of music that keeps it all turning.

For me, it felt a bit like talking to the oracle of wax — a veteran who’s paved the way for the rest of us who believe that vinyl still matters.