by Michael Shapiro | Jan 31, 2026 | Environment, Featured, Music, Stories, Travel
I was coming home from a day of cross-country skiing when I got the news that Bob Weir had died. Weir and the Grateful Dead had been a part of my life since I saw my first Dead show, in Oakland on December 26, 1980. A teenager from the sheltered suburbs south of San...
by Michael Shapiro | Feb 14, 2024 | Interviews, Music, Stories
Most stories about Lukas Nelson start with referencing his popular pop, Willie. So when I interviewed Lukas in advance of his Santa Rosa appearance in early 2024, I made a point to ask a series of questions about his own work, then later in the interview I asked a...
by Michael Shapiro | May 7, 2022 | Blog, Interviews, Music, Stories
Most editors don’t mind if you write a bit longer than assigned. I was asked to write 900 to 1,000 words about Old Crow Medicine Show for The Press Democrat, so it would have been fine, for example, to submit 1,100 words. Yet my interview with bandleader Ketch...
by Michael Shapiro | Feb 9, 2022 | Blog, Interviews, Music, Stories
After a decade of honing his craft and playing gritty clubs, Robert Cray burst onto the blues scene in the mid-1980s and became a global sensation. None other than B.B. King anointed him as the great blues hope who could carry the torch to the next generation. Cray...
by Michael Shapiro | Apr 15, 2018 | Blog, Interviews, Music, Stories
Sometimes a story comes along that breaks your heart before you start interviewing. And then when you get to know the subjects it becomes even more wrenching yet at the same time uplifting. The story of aspiring musician Bernie Dalton, who refused to let the loss of...
by Michael Shapiro | Aug 8, 2015 | Blog, Food, Interviews, Music, Sports, Stories, Travel
Sometimes, if you’ve worked with an editor for a while, she approaches you with an assignment. And occasionally she opens the door to your dream story. When my editor at Inspirato suddenly had an opening for a feature and asked me to pitch a story about Chicago,...
