Author | Filmmaker and Host, Tola Talks
Tola Talks with award-winning singer/songwriter Erick Macek. On our first Acoustic Fridays, check out Erick performing live and get inspired by his theme song from Rich’s movie, Boulevard Zen. Watch the show weekdays on youtube.com/tolatalks
I’m super excited to launch my new talk show, Tola Talks, on LATalkRadio.com this coming Monday – that’s right, Labor Day – and broadcasting live weekdays at Noon on Channel 2.
Tola Talks is all about positivity and inspiring listeners with my 21st Century talk for a No Bullshit world. No topic is off limits, and just like my 30-episode podcast, Get Your S#!T Together: GYST with Rich Tola, I plan on entertaining listeners with my no bullshit style and candid conversations with today’s Celebrities & Business Leaders, Fitness & Yoga Professionals, Love & Relationship Experts, plus Movie Reviews and Live Performances from popular Musicians.
Our first week is filled with an awesome Guest list including Celebrity Psychic Jeanie Jacobs MacDonald, the lovely and talented Actress Troy Titus-Barrow (who also co-starred in Boulevard Zen), two amazing Yoginis, Linda Baffa and Jess Harper, Hollywood Photographer Jared Cowan, and LA Music Awards ‘Best Male Vocalist of the Year’ Erick Macek (from NBC’s ‘The Voice’).
So get ready for my next evolution from Podcaster to Radio Host on Internet’s most irreverent, entertaining and cool radio station that’s home to more than 80 talk shows a week with over 1,000,000 listeners a month. And like the LA Talk Radio tagline asserts…”We say what we want”.
Have a great Holiday weekend everyone, and I’ll see you on the radio! – R
I just read an LA Times editorial by Randy Lewis expressing his appreciation for the late Clarence Clemons. Similar to Randy, I’ve also been a Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band fan for more than 35 years now. And I agree with Randy that, “Clemons was there to express that which transcended mere language.” Because with the Boss and the Big Man, it was about reaching into your mind, body and soul to echo feelings and images, not just sounds. I still remember a bootleg version of Prove it All Night from 1979 with the Boss’s heart-felt guitar riff and the Big Man’s incredible sax. “The wondrous thing about Clemons was that everything he played, in solos or accompanying his bandmates, was astonishingly simple from a technical viewpoint.” Thanks for pointing that out Randy, especially to us non-sax people, because technical simplicity should also apply to your daily fitness program. So keep it simple and technically correct with today’s 5 Minute Fat Burning Workout #98 – Elevator Squats. And thank you Clarence Clemons! RIP – R
It was early November, 1978, when I first experienced the amazing sounds and vibrations of the world’s greatest rocker, Bruce Springsteen. I was 15 years old, and growing up in New Jersey, of course I was a “Boss” fan. So I tagged along with some older kids to watch him at Princeton University’s Jadwin Gymnasium. It was my first Springsteen concert and Bruce was promoting his 4th album, Darkness on the Edge of Town. Interestingly, after I post this blog, I’m heading over to Santa Monica to watch The Promise on the big screen. This documentary shows the anguish and the creative joy that went into the making of Darkness. I’m looking forward to the 1970s footage of young Springsteen creating the album with the E Street Band and the interviews of Bruce today. So whatever your fancy is today, enjoy, and don’t forget to get your daily workout in!
Here’s today 5 Minute Fat Burning Workout #66 – Triceps, Core & Abs – R
I read an article in the LA Times this morning about rap star Kanye West’s closing Sunday night set at Coachella (the 3-day annual Music & Arts Festival in Indio, CA). Kanye ended his “epic and unforgettable” set standing alone. Much like the way he started. Which got me thinking about how working out everyday is just like Kanye standing there alone. Yes, you can workout with your friends or take a group class, but you’re still doing it alone. Which, at times, feels like a very lonely journey. That’s why incorporating bite-size workouts is the key to success. Workouts that are simple and effective. Just like Kanye flying solo without all the bells and whistles of a spectacle behind him, you can fly solo with my anytime-anywhere 5 Minute Fat Burning Workouts. So enjoy tightening your abdominals & core with today’s Workout #55! – R
I just read an article in the LA Times about TV and film composer, Glenn Morrissette, who travels the country in his RV after having simplified his world to embrace a mobile lifestyle. When Glenn composes the score for Fox’s “Family Guy”, he does so from his recording studio on wheels then beams it back to Hollywood. And when his friends extend invitations for him to park at their homes, he says all he needs is ’21 feet of space’. How cool would that be to reduce all your worldly possessions – and not so worldly obligations – to 21 feet of space? That can go anywhere (that’s drivable, that is). I guess you can say Glenn’s on-the-move lifestyle is similar to having a daily fitness program that works anytime, anywhere – without the obligations of a gym or yoga studio membership. Or the significant time commitment. 5 Minutes. Anytime. Anywhere. So let’s all take note of our friend Glenn and his desire to simplify. And enjoy restoring your legs, core and abs with my 5 minute fat burning workout #27 – R
‘Life’s a boulevard and sometimes you get stuck’ is the overarching theme to my film, Boulevard Zen. Each of the characters uses yoga to overcome adversity in their lives. The kind of adversity that is like getting seriously stuck on a Boulevard, such as death of a spouse, a broken heart, depression, anorexia, hypertension, infertility, peer pressure and a party lifestyle. All this with a PG-rated script that’s appropriate for the entire family. The chorus from the theme song, “Life’s Boulevard”, is especially inspirational:
Driving down Life’s Boulevard is no paradise
Open up your heart let it lead you day and night
Just do not dwell on things that can’t be undone
Keep pushing forward til the battle is won
Written by me and award winning singer-songwriter Erick Macek, and performed by Erick & Bill Jones, get your free download & watch trailers @ RichTola.com. Enjoy – R