Osiris Podcast Profile: Festival Circuit – New Orleans

Marc D. Allan hosts the Osiris Media podcast The Tapes Archive. Below, Marc profiles fellow Osiris podcast, Festival Circuit New Orleans.

Rob Steinberg has the voice of a 1970s late-night FM deejay, a vast knowledge of music, and enough gray hairs to have attended 40 of the 50 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festivals. In other words, he’s the perfect person to narrate Osiris Media’s atmospheric and history-drenched new podcast, Festival Circuit: New Orleans.

The five-episode first season takes listeners through the development of the city’s musical heritage; how families are integral to keeping the music alive; the atmosphere of the Fair Grounds during festival time; how Jazz Fest has grown (“You go from having 10 shows to choose from in 1980 to having 150 shows a night to choose from in 2019, and you go can all night,” Steinberg says); and where we go from here in the age of COVID-19 and Black Lives Matter.

“As a fan of New Orleans music and a fan of the city itself, we have a lot at stake with tourism, food and music,” Steinberg says. “We love what we do so much; we just want to share it with the world. We want to make sure those who come here get that full experience. If you’ve been to Jazz Fest or considered coming to New Orleans and you’re able to listen to the podcast, you’ll learn a few interesting things you may not have known about New Orleans and about music. Even if you live in the city and you go to Jazz Fest every year, there are tidbits in this podcast you may not have known.”

Steinberg grew up in Philadelphia — his father was a lawyer who counted Bob Marley and songwriters Kenny Gamble, Leon Huff, and Thom Bell among his clients. He moved to New Orleans for college at Tulane University In 1977, where he ran the college radio station and fell for the scope of New Orleans music.

Over the next 40 years, he worked for a couple of record labels in Philadelphia and New York, helped manage the German hard-rock band Scorpions during the 1980s, and became an actor in the 1990s. (Among his 60 or so credits are Die Hard 2, The Bold and the Beautiful, Deepwater Horizon, Treme, and the Oscar winner 12 Years a Slave.) He moved back to New Orleans about 10 years ago when it was “Hollywood South,” before former Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal eliminated the tax credit that made it easier to lure TV and movie productions to town.

When Steinberg was asked to be part of the Festival Circuit podcast, his role was supposed to be as an interview subject. But he pointed out to the producers that “I do narration, and I know the subject really well, so I might be able to add some color, if you wanted.” They did.

Each season of Festival Circuit will analyze the impact of a different music festival on cities and communities around the world. Steinberg says future shows might tell the stories behind the Bonnaroo, High Sierra and Lockn’ festivals. And the narrator plans to branch out with his own podcast too, called It’s OK, I’m With the Band.

“I have a million stories of the music business, touring, filmmaking, and my experiences in life,” Steinberg says. “I mean, how many people got to hug Bob Marley and get killed by Bruce Willis? And I’ve been asked to repeat these stories – even to people who’ve heard them before. Which, I guess, is a good sign.”