Always do your very best to live a life you’re proud of, and if it falls short, have the strength to start over again. I used Better Each Day as my mantra. In the words of 19th century psychologist and pharmacist Emile Coue: “Everyday in every way, I’m getting better and better.”   So here’s the spoiler. I moved to Mukilteo WA based on a gut feeling of following my own compass, making new friends and excelling in a career. After 5 years and 8 months I’m graduating from Home Depot Paint...

Hey to all the Better Each Day Listeners, this is Bruce and welcome to episode 251. Welcome to the show but most importantly welcome to the first annual year end Christmas party where we feature a special theme. Now keep in mind that I am, and apparently always will be, a hopeless romantic love song writing fool. One thing we can all agree on is that some songs just need to be written. And some people need to be written about. This year the vote was unanimous to introduce some songs you may...

Hey folks and welcome to the Better Each Day Podcast Radio Show with your host, Bruce Hilliard. This is a special episode with the ghost of John Oates past. I was reflecting on a conversation from a while back where we talked about band names, the Beatles and Hall and Oates being two of them, and the famous Abandoned Luncheonette. So here are a couple of covers starting with one from an album called Help! It’s by that band with the name that catches on after a while, the Beatles. I just...

Hey folks and welcome to the Better Each Day Podcast Radio Show with your host, Bruce Hilliard. We had a storm here in Mukilteo WA that knocked out our power yesterday. I was reduced to a pencil and an acoustic guitar, two of the best inventions ever. This song was the result. Runaway Thinking again of leaving it all behind Packing my things and wondering why oh why I feel this sometimes You and I will runaway, taking our time, let the whirlwinds blow You and I will runaway, I wanna run away...

Bruce Hilliard speaking. The leaves are falling, times are a-changin’ and I heard Mr. Wines took the coda. My most influential band director Mr. Wines passed away a few days ago. In music, a coda is a passage that brings a piece of music to an end. It may be as simple as a few measures, or as complex as an entire section. This guy was an entire opus, an epic rock opera for me and many others. Mr. Wines, one of my personal influences and motivators of my music career, passed last Sunday...

The weather is changing, the leaves are too, here are my songs just for you. Ahh, to be a brilliant master of rhyme. Rhyme’s disease. And now…from Johann Sebastian Bach’s Toccata in D minor to my Roses and Strawberry Rain in D major. Roses and Strawberry Rain Just To Know You Sweetest Thing Kerri Pollyanna Endless Rain Thanks for listening!

When I was a little kid I watched American Bandstand because I liked the songs Dick Clark and company selected for his top hits it’s what the kids want countdown. Based on what I heard, I walked downtown to Aub Schmidt’s music store with a dollar in coins and bought a 45. Being a fan of vocal harmonies, Beach Boys and Four Seasonsy stuff, I heard this version of “I’ve Got Rhythm” by the Happenings. I had the honor of speaking with David Libert, the baritone and arranger of the Happenings a...

Thanks for listening. I've had a few requests for some original music...and maybe a new one. Here it is, Polyanna: Pollyanna You don’t even know me , so how can you show me what to do You don’t even need me, if only for less lonely night You shouldn’t go on thinking we’ll be someday And turn that darkness into day? I don’t know (Chorus) Pollyanna won’t you please come out of the rain You know you’re driving me insane Always looking for a miracle Always searching for revelation How can a...

Me and my buddies from shop class sang this at the junior high talent assembly. Our band was the Beach Balls, vetoed by the elder teacher with glitzy cat-eye glasses that hovered over the production and basically censored our really good work. The word “balls” was too radical so I suggested instead of Beach Balls, how about the Sons of the Beaches? “Sons”?, “beaches”?”...nothing satanic there! We settled for the Leech Boys. My first memories were of 78 rpms with about 25% of the Mom/Dad...

Hey everyone and we have a surprise in store for us. I, while looking through my memorabilia for a Johnny Quest outdoor horizons adventure club card (made that up) I ran across an old brown box full of 45s. So, randomly, here are ten or eleven 45 r.p.m. records played on a 1972 turntable I found while looking for my retainer. I was into Santana/Page/Hendrix for guitar inspiration but for melodies and vocals, this apparently was what I was listening to as a young teen. I think these are...

We don’t smoke and we don’t chew, we’re the class of ‘72. I was honored to play at an Aberdeen High School class reunion 1972 and had a great time and I’m not surprised. The acoustics in the party venue well…as big boomy rooms go, the sound wasn’t optimum so to those who couldn’t hear the troubadour, this is for you.

Hey everyone! And welcome to the Better Each Day Podcast Radio Show…the show that features recording artists and their work. That’s what we usually do but this episode is all about a party I’ll be playing in a week. It’s taking me back home to Aberdeen Washington or Warshington for the washing impaired. Aberdeen, the town that put the Gator on the Animal House movie via Bill Murray who watched in person our hometown ritual dance, the Gator, performed at the Rocker by our beer soaked Schmenges...

Hey, it's Bruce Hilliard with today’s guest Tommi Tikka with a message to go to the Born Free Foundation and he and several generous and concerned musicians have donated time and music to the cause…cause that’s what we do. Please kick back and listen to our chat and music from the Born Free climate change project. https://www.bornfree.org.uk/news/climate-change-conservation (Born Free Climate Change Contributions Welcome Here!)

Hey, it's Bruce Hilliard with today’s most excellent guest Steve Blaze, lead guitarist in of one of the hottest rock bands I’ve heard in years, Lillian Axe. Their latest album From Womb To Tomb will be released on CD on August 19 by Global Rock Records. This is the band’s first new album in ten years and it comes ahead of their first UK headline dates in 29 years. Coming up, a few cuts from the LP written by our guest Steve Blaze and a chat with Steve!

Hey it's Bruce and come see me in concert at the https://blacklabgalleryeverett.com/ (Black Lab Gallery and Bar) in Everett WA on Saturday July 23rd (that’s 2022) at 8:00. And please welcome today’s guest Silvano Ancelotti…From Italy, its Uncle Bard and the Dirty Bastards and some of the best Irish pub music you’ll ever hear. Folk/Rock music, spiced up with Irish Trad! Based in the north of Italy (weird, innit?) and made up of lads who, in one way or another, lived or spent too much time...

It’s a Thursday edition of the Better Each Day Podcast Radio Show and here’s the reason. The Zombies are in town. Live at the Historic Everett Theater tomorrow night at 7:00 PM, tickets are still available. And next week Saturday July 23rd I’ll be at Black Lab Gallery and Bar in Everett…two blocks away from the Zombies’ show the week prior so you can hang at the park for a week and just walk to my show. Here’s a conversation from last September (when we first warned the village folk that the...

Asher began classical violin training at the tender age of 2 and had already performed with the Buffalo philharmonic by age 13. Asher’s expertise in trans-genre improvisation has led him to a career as a soloist in demand, performing at venues such as Madison Square Garden, Carnegie, Lincoln Center, the Jacob Javitz Center and across four continents. Asher has also been featured on PBS, and has made headlines on CNN, WABC, and NBC and many other major news sources. Asher is known for...

Thank you for being here with me, Bruce Hilliard and today’s guest Flood Dud, yes me, to talk about blind dates. You can say what you want about them, or even worse….go on one. This can be a marathon event to locate someone you like but with the right amount of perseverance I’ll be finding a mate. There’s no better defining moment between artificial intelligence, in this case the dating app on my iPhone, compared humanoids, in particular your friends that know what you like, than the blind...

Chuck Wright is today’s guest. When Chuck is not fighting crime by night, he is best known as the bassist from Quiet Riot! Thank you for being here with me, Bruce Hilliard and today’s guest Chuck Wright, to talk about his new and first solo album, or project as he refers to it, Chuck Wright’s Sheltering Sky. Chuck is proud and excited to release his debut solo album, Sheltering Sky, on Los Angeles-based Cleopatra Records, on May 20. The album features guest appearances by several of...

Thank you for being here with me, Bruce Hilliard telling you they tattooed her in darkness. That is a line from Goddess Reborn, a song we’ll hear and hear all about from guest and rockin’ it James Carr. James is the front for the James Carr Band. If you get a chance, check them out. Very good. James Carr plays some kick ass guitar and what a great vocalist! Okay, I’m back with a couple minutes to play this by request. A song I wrote about a promise made by a little girl to a little boy one...

Thank you for being here with me, Bruce Hilliard. I’m here all week, tip your waitresses and for all your painting needs? Welcome to my day gig. Please select a color from your favorite food groups. Raspberry red, avocado or Huskie purple , and how shiny you like your sheen. We have Charlie Sheen, Martin Sheen and even washingma sheen. It's a DYI project for you alone, “do-yourself-it”, FYI. Today’s guest just turned 18 on Monday May 9th 2022. She is Hungary born and Scotland raised...

Thank you for being here with me, Bruce Hilliard, with guest Phil Tittle. Phil Tittle is a singer-songwriter based out of Pensacola, Florida. His music has traces of blues, country, rock, and singer-songwriter influences that fit nicely into the Americana genre. ​Phil's first studio album, “All Over the Map” was released in 2019 under his band's name "Colt Weston" and he released "The Roadhouse Hymnals" the following year. Phil now regularly plays solo throughout the SE region under his...

Thank you for being here with me, Bruce Hilliard, with a warm spring day and actually you don’t need to point out that you’re not “being here” with me. But in spirit with ears to listen and enjoy a few original songs. Many of the Better Each Day shows are musician interviews with the famous or the hopefuls. I love em all but here’s some of the music listeners have been asking for and I’m happy to deliver in under a half hour or you get a free pizza or something of equal value. A true Kodak...

Thank you for being here with me, Bruce Hilliard, and my guest, guitar man Greg Martin of the Kentucky Headhunters. As I'm looking out my studio window (the studio that’s my kitchen and bedroom too) I see a coyote. I live on the Harbour Pointe Golf Club’s ninth hole where sometimes I see people stopping off in the bushes to drain their veins but other than squirrels and Easter bunnies ya don’t get all that much wildlife. For wildlife I turn to my day gig at the Home Depot paint department,...