Interview: The Smokin’ Joe Show
As the snow fell on a spring night in April of 2018, Joe Scarpellino, or “Smokin’ Joe,” had an idea. He was supposed to play a gig in Brainerd with the rest of the crew, Dead Larry, but the whole state was basically shut down and so was the show. What’s the next best alternative; Have a concert via Facebook Live! Scarpellino picked up his guitar and played for a virtual live audience of about 30 people. This gave him the idea to start “The Smokin’ Joe Show,” a live stream based around the local Minneapolis music and arts scene and not just when it’s snowing.
Every week since, Scrappinello brings on a special guest and they play games, do an interview and perform live music. Local artists such as Aaron “Heatbox” Heaton, Mae Simpson and Ricardo “Romie” Romero, Olivia Quintanilla, Burbillies and so many more have joined Scrappinellio for the live show.
“I always thought someone should do a talk show based on the music scene we’re in,” Scrappinellio said. “So, I started doing that on my own. It was just me and my computer, then John Merhen from Vicarious Visions got involved and he started doing bigger and better stuff.”
And it snowballed from there.
As the second season approached, Merhen coordinated with Minneapolis Television Network to get the Smokin’ Joe Show on the air. The first episode in front of a live studio audience premiered May 16 with guest Jon Wayne from Jon Wayne and the Pain.
“They have a studio where we can go in, they have nice cameras,” Scrappinellio said. “It’s a nice studio where we can have an audience.”
John Merhen began working on the show as a way to alleviate some of Scrappinellio’s stress. With a background in radio and TV broadcasting, Merhen gave the show the technical push it needed.
Not only that, but the show is a good way to get the word out about Galactic Get Down (GGD). Merhen is a co-owner, organizer and promoter for GGD, along with Scrappinellio and Jess Seahorsesfoevah. The space themed music festival will take place July 19-20 at Outback Ranch in Houston, Minnesota.
“[The show] started off as a way to get GGD into peoples homes,” Merhen said. “As the production picked up, we realized it was going to be a really great platform to get some of those middle artists that some people know, but some people don’t. This was really gonna be a great platform to start getting exposure for the bands we work with.”
The majority of episodes from the last few months have featured artists from GGD’s line ups.
The show isn’t always stuck in a studio, some shows are on location such as Revival Music Festival and Hook and Ladder, a local venue.
“I’d love to do more on location stuff from music festivals, but it always comes down to internet,” Scrappinellio said. “At Revival we got Pat, Chuck and Benji, [Useful Jenkins] all the festival organizers, to come on the show and do an interview and they played a song.” We’d like to do more festival stuff, but it always comes down to internet.”
Tune in Every Thursday at 7 p.m. via the Smokin’ Joe and Vicarious Visions Facebook Page to see the show aired live or head down to the studio and be apart of the live studio audience! If you can’t catch it live, check out the rebroadcast on Minneapolis Television Network cable channel 17 or on Joe Scrappinellio’s YouTube channel.
“Having a live studio audience and having those people come out and participate is really the next step for us,” Scrappinellio said. “I would love for more people to come out and see it live. It just keeps growing real slow – baby steps, sustainable growth. Don’t grow too fast that you can’t do what you want to do.”
Photos by Brittany Innes
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