Rhythms Magazine

On his final night in New Orleans, Brian Wise files a slightly frayed dispatch that captures Jazz Fest’s defining tension: a festival big enough to feel infinite, and a schedule brutal enough to make you choose your regrets in advance.

Episode 22 becomes a story about how festivals actually unfold—less like neat recaps and more like a sequence of weather calls, crowd-panics, and last-minute pivots.

With the festival reckoning done, the conversation swings to another kind of canon-building: Joni Mitchell. Sparked by a Mojo “top 50 songs” feature, the hosts trade favourites (Wise namechecks “Don Juan’s Reckless Daughter” and multiple Court and Spark staples, plus “Magdalene Laundries,” “Amelia,” and “River”), and Wise recalls seeing Mitchell at Jazz Fest in 1995, performing with her VG-8 guitar setup.

They also discuss an attention-grabbing industry development: a Joni Mitchell biopic being directed by Cameron Crowe, with Meryl Streep cast as the older Mitchell and Anya Taylor-Joy as the younger. The enthusiasm is tempered by a journalist’s instinctive question: can a close friend make an objective film?

Show Notes

Fred Wesley & The New J.B.'s | Live at Moods 

Isaiah Collier & The Chosen Few - Full Performance (Live on KEXP)  

Wilco - Impossible Germany with full solo recorded live at the Saenger Theatre May 2026

Mavis Staples Chicago May 3 2026 New Orleans Jazz Fest 

Herbie Hancock - Chameleon (Official Audio) 

Joni Mitchell's 50 Greatest Songs In The New MOJO! 

Little Feat - Spanish Moon (Official Music Video) 

By Episode 21, On The Record has moved beyond anticipation and into immersion. Brian Wise is no longer circling Jazz Fest—he’s in it, navigating its scale, its heat, and its constant, often punishing, decisions.

Broadcasting from the French Quarter, Wise paints New Orleans as it always is: chaotic, convivial and faintly surreal. One moment it’s a communal gumbo dinner with locals and visiting friends; the next, pre-dawn screams echo through the street—mercifully revealed to be part of a film shoot rather than something more sinister.

But Jazz Fest remains the centre of gravity. The conditions alone are a test: 30-degree heat, heavy humidity, and crowds pushing well beyond 80,000 across the main days. It’s a physical endurance exercise as much as a musical one, and Wise is candid about the toll—even for a seasoned attendee.

Show Notes

Brother Tyrone and The Mindbenders - 6/1/2025 - Maple Leaf Bar Live 

Nicholas Payton + Butcher Brown - “All Blues” (Official Live Performance) 

GA-20 - Naggin' On My Mind (with Charlie Musselwhite & Luther Dickinson)

Ani DiFranco: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert 

Joy Clark - Lesson (Official Music Video) 

Glen David Andrews - Medley: Iko, Iko & Right Place, Wrong Time 

Marcia Ball - They Don't Make Em Like That 

Things They Like To Do by Jon Batiste Swamp show New Orleans Jazz Heritage Festival April 26 2026 

Ron Carter: Tiny Desk (Home) Concert 

Lucinda Williams Bus To Baton Rouge (Album Version (New Mastering) 

Bob Dylan I've Made Up My Mind to Give Myself to You : Beacon Theatre Mar 2022 

The Lowdown | Official Trailer | Ethan Hawke, Kyle MacLachlan, Keith David | FX 

Elvis Costello Meets Jeff Tweedy in Mojo

New Elvis Costello Boxset To Feature A Wealth Of Never Before Heard Punk Era Recordings 

Bruce Springsteen My City of Ruins (Live at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, 2006) 

Episode 20 of On The Record finds Brian Wise reporting in from the field—first Austin, then New Orleans—with the kind of on-the-ground detail that reminds you why festivals still matter, even as many struggle to survive.

There’s even time for a detour through Austin’s bookstores in search of Dylan literature—because some habits travel well.

Show Notes

Railroad Earth - Been Down This Road 

The Last Revel - Iron and Ore 

Billy Bright + Geoff Union Trio : "Fischer Flood Take 1" 

Shelby Means - "Million Reasons" 

Shinyribs - Bitch Better Have My Money (Rihanna) / Long Train Runnin' (The Doobie Brothers) 

RAYE: Tiny Desk Concert 

Goose - Elmeg The Wise - 4/10/26 Asheville, NC 

After the Flood: Inside Bob Dylan's Memory Palace Hardcover – by Robert Polito (Author) 

Old Settler’s Festival: An Austin Treat 

Episode 19 of On The Record kicks off with one foot in the present and the other firmly planted on the long tail of rock history—touching on new Rolling Stones material before sliding into an excerpt from Brian Wise’s recent interview with Mike Mattison of Tedeschi Trucks Band.

It’s a neat juxtaposition. 

From there, the episode turns toward what’s ahead, with Wise preparing to head to Austin and New Orleans. What really comes through is a sense of curiosity about what the trip will feel like this time around.

Show Notes

Tedeschi Trucks Band website 

Check out The Rolling Stones’ vinyl-only new single ‘Rough & Twisted’ as The Cockroaches

Listen to Michael's debut (and possibly last) album Oversharing With Strangers 

BRUNSWICK BALLROOM Presents MIKE RUDD DOCO + Q&A + LIVE BAND SHOW WITH GUEST ROSS WILSON - HOST BRIAN NANKERVIS 6:30 pm, Wed 20 May, 2026

There are episodes of On The Record that wander; Episode 18 plants its flag firmly in one year—1966—and dares you to argue it wasn’t the moment pop music grew up.

Brian Wise and Michael Mackenzie mark the 60th anniversary of Revolver not as a nostalgic exercise, but as a forensic examination of how four-track limitations, studio ingenuity and sheer artistic restlessness combined to reshape recorded music.

Show Notes

The Comic Strip Presents s01e01 Five Go Mad in Dorset

THE MAGIC FARAWAY TREE Trailer #2 4K (2026) | 

THE ROSES | Official Trailer 

Revolver (2022 Mix) Full Album 

I'm Only Sleeping (Take 1) 

Thane Russal - Security 

The Rolling Stones - 19th Nervous Breakdown (Official Lyric Video) 

The Turtles You Baby TRUE 1966 Stereo 

The Righteous Bros (You're My) Soul And Inspiration 

The Knickerbockers - One Track Mind 

The Walker Brothers - The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore 

Them Call My Name 

Simon & Garfunkel Homeward Bound 

Jan and Dean Batman Theme 

The Kinks - Till The End Of The Day (Official Audio) 

The Beatles - Doctor Robert (Remastered 2009) 

If you want to know the exact moment legacy radio started to feel its age, it might have been when a major Australian station began giving away lacy doilies.

In the latest episode of On The Record, Michael Mackenzie and Brian Wise—veterans with a combined 70 years behind the mic—stage a fascinating "in-house" intervention for the medium they love (and occasionally despair over).

Joined by global "radio futurologist" James Cridland, the trio moved from a high-tech April Fool’s hoax involving Bob Dylan to a deep-tissue analysis of why the ABC is shedding listeners while community radio and podcasts are booming.

Show Notes:

Project Hail Mary - Official Trailer 

Sign Up for James Cridland’s weekly radio newsletter

The long goodbye to Bluesfest continues in Episode 16 of On The Record, but this time the tone shifts from shock to something closer to forensic analysis. If last week was a reaction, this is reconstruction.

If Bluesfest is a case study in organisational failure, Scarpetta is its televisual equivalent. The long-gestating adaptation of Patricia Cornwell’s crime novels earns a near-unanimous drubbing.

Redemption comes via The Outlaws, Stephen Merchant’s Bristol-set series, which earns a glowing recommendation for its balance of humour, character, and social observation.

Brian Wise reports from Castlemaine’s Theatre Royal, where the “Man Out of Time” tribute to Broderick Smith becomes a reminder of what Australian roots music does best: community, continuity, and songcraft.

The episode closes on a note of tentative optimism, with Wise anticipating a film adaptation of The Magic Faraway Tree, his “favourite book of all time.” Whether it will soar or suffer the fate of Scarpetta remains to be seen.

Show Links

Rolling Stone ‘It Wasn’t A Sudden Collapse. It Was a Slow Bleed’: Former Bluesfest Executive Speaks Out 

Jay E Clair The REAL Reason Bluesfest Fell Apart: From Sold Out to Collapse 

Check out Michael's debut album 'Oversharing With Strangers' under the moniker Imposter Syndrome 

Scarpetta - Official Trailer | Prime Video  

The Outlaws - Official Trailer | Iview  

The Magic Faraway Tree | Official Trailer 

Tedeschi Trucks Band website 

Tedeschi Trucks Band - "Midnight in Harlem" (Live on eTown) 

Florry - First it was a movie, then it was a book (Official Music Video) 

Geese – Taxes Jimmy Kimmel Live 

AUSTRALIAN GOOD FOOD GUIDE Origini in Castlemaine 

Broderick Smith - Snowblind Moon 

Episode 15 of On The Record is the sound of a long-running Australian institution going quiet — followed by the louder, messier noise of what happens when a festival doesn’t just “take a break”, but goes into liquidation.

Brian Wise and Michael Mackenzie devote the bulk of the episode to the sudden demise of Bluesfest after 36 years, and they do it with a guest who knows the event from the inside: Sarah Ndiaye, now Mayor of Byron Shire, formerly the “head honcho” of the Bluesfest photo tent — the social headquarters where media, and photographers regrouped each Easter.

Important Links

Bluesfest Reportage

Variety: Calls Mounting for a Class Action Against Bluesfest After 2026 Event Cancelled By Neil Griffiths 

ABC News: Confusion and anger as Bluesfest ticketholders question timing of cancellation By Julia André 

Byron Shire Echo: Bluesfest ancillary event in Bruns cancelled By Hans Lovejoy 

AFR: Refund complication as Bluesfest collapses owing $5.7m by Michael Bailey Arts & Culture editor 

Opinion If the Bluesfest era has ended, I’ve lost something more precious than money by David Free 

Pharaoh Sanders The Creator Has A Master Plan 

Ben Harper - With My Own Two Hands (Official Music Video) 

The latest episode of On The Record opens where any self-respecting Australian roots podcast should: the Port Fairy Folk Festival. It then takes a characteristic detour into aging payment technology, Formula One, Mick Turner guitar lines and the comedic chops of Steve Poltz.

Show Notes

Port Fairy Folk Festival 

Queenie & Hank - Anyhow I Love You Video 

ANNIE & THE CALDWELLS – Wrong feat. Deborah Caldwell Moore (Official Music Video) 

Kasey Chambers - Runaway Train (live) 

Mary Coughlan - 'I Can't Make You Love Me' | The Late Late Show | RTÉ One 

Liz Stringer – 'The Metrologist' (Live at Triple R) 

Liz's Final Show in Aust before heading back to the UK 

Steve Poltz - "The Son Of God" (live on eTown) 

Jim Lauderdale "Artificial Intelligence" Live From The Opry 

Shane O'Mara · Jac Tonks Sorrow Hides the Longing to Be Free - The Songs of Bert Jansch  Blues Run the Game 

Emma Donovan - Take Me To The River (Official Show Trailer) 

Sons Of The East - Come Away [Official Video] 

Sons Of The East - Sweet Thing

Mick Wall Eagles - Dark Desert Highway: How America s Dream Band Turned into a Nightmare 

Mick Turner - Don't Tell The Driver (2013) [Full Album] 

Mess Esque "Take Me to Your Infinite Garden" (Official Music Video) 

Messesque on Bandcamp 

Detectorists on Amazon Prime 

Steve Poltz Aust tour dates 

If you ever needed proof that the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is less a museum and more a cultural argument with a gift shop, Episode 13 of On The Record opens by doing what the institution does best: stretching the phrase “rock and roll” until it politely accommodates everyone from Wu‑Tang Clan to Shakira, with a quick stop at INXS (or, as Michael once heard on the BBC, the new Australian sensation “Inks”).

Brian runs through the 2026 nominee list like a gig guide for the afterlife—The Black Crowes, Jeff Buckley, Joy Division/New Order, Oasis, Phil Collins (solo, because apparently we’re double-dipping now), Melissa Etheridge, Lauryn Hill, New Edition, Pink, Luther Vandross—and lands on the question that always makes the Hall quietly hilarious: who is this for, exactly? Michael’s baffled by the ceremony mechanics (do nominees really “turn up hoping”?), while Brian reassures him it’s not quite the Oscars, before casually dropping the detail that there’s a public vote. Nothing says rock’s rebellious spirit like “exercise our democratic right” via a link.

The more interesting subtext, though, is what induction inevitably drags in: absence. Several nominees have key members who’ve died—Buckley, Michael Hutchence, Ian Curtis—prompting the kind of morbid logistics only a Hall of Fame can inspire. Michael wonders aloud whether New Order could be coaxed into a once-only appearance, and if so, would Peter Hook be anywhere near the bass, given the long-running fallout. Rock history, as ever, is part music, part family law.

From there, the episode pivots into “telly as coping mechanism” territory. 

Michael has started season two of Hijack, acknowledging (with Idris Elba’s own executive-producer embarrassment) the inherent silliness of re-hijacking a man who has already been hijacked. 

Brian, meanwhile, goes looking for light relief in bleak news cycles and discovers Resident Alien—a show he’d dismissed as fluff until it turns out to be fluff with enough teeth to feel like therapy. The alien-in-a-small-town premise becomes an excuse for a few sharp jokes about humanity’s trajectory.

But the main event is the week’s shared homework: Paul McCartney: Man on the Run, the new documentary spanning the years between the Beatles’ breakup and Lennon’s murder. 

Brian begins with dread—opening on “Silly Love Songs” is hardly a confidence-builder—but both hosts admit the film wins them over. They praise the craft: strong editing, collage-like imagery, and an effective “no talking heads (but their voices)” approach. Then they do the responsible thing and ask the awkward question: how honest can a documentary be when McCartney’s own company financed it?

Their answer is satisfyingly unresolved. Michael argues it’s “warts-and-all enough” to avoid feeling like a total snow job—especially when the film lets other musicians (Nick Lowe, Chrissie Hynde) politely wonder what on earth Paul was thinking during the early, patchy years. 

Brian agrees McCartney produced plenty of throwaway material, though he’ll still go in to bat for Band on the Run and even dares to defend “Coming Up” (which Michael treats as a personal affront). 

They both wish the doco lingered longer on the Lagos chapter, one of the few moments in the Wings story that feels like true risk rather than post-Beatles reputation management.

The emotional spine, however, is Scotland. The documentary’s portrayal of McCartney retreating to a remote farm with Linda is read here not as quaint pastoral cosplay, but as a survival strategy—grief, disorientation, and the sudden absence of the band-as-family. 

The hosts talk candidly about parental loss, the Beatles as McCartney’s “emotional prop,” and Lennon as the creative foil who kept Paul’s “twee” instincts on a leash. 

Linda comes out of it as both partner and lightning rod: necessary to him, mercilessly judged by everyone else. 

Along the way, Brian remembers seeing Wings at the Myer Music Bowl in 1975 (yes, he was there), and the hosts revive Norman Gunston as the patron saint of awkward interviews—plus Michael’s conspiracy theory that McCartney’s infamous Japan marijuana bust may have been a deliberate exit strategy from a tour that Wings’ hearts weren’t in. 

It’s ridiculous. It’s also, perversely, the kind of narrative logic rock biographies thrive on.

By the end, the Hall of Fame is still a “broad church,” McCartney is still a genius with a questionable edit button, and Scotland remains the unlikely setting for both reinvention and retreat. 

The biggest twist is that for two men who can’t even land a sponsor, they spend 30 minutes proving the oldest rock cliché true: the past is never really over—someone’s just nominated it.

Important Links

Rock & Roll Hall of Fame 2026 Nominees! 

Paul McCartney: Man on the Run - Official Trailer | Prime Video 

Syfy's Resident Alien - Official Trailer (2021) Alan Tudyk 

Nineteen Hundred And Eighty Five (2010 Remaster) 

The Art Of Paul McCartney 

Paul McCartney - Maybe I’m Amazed 

Paul McCartney - Norman Gunston 1975