Green Chili Chisme

Some episodes stay on the rails. This one… absolutely did not.

From the moment we said hello, Natasha and I were talking tacos, tequila, spirit guides, cooking, Europe, Hendrix, Joplin, and the left turn that will take her into Texas this summer.

We talk childhood, culture, film sets, touring, and the music that shaped her — and then she hits me with a brand new song, performed live, for the first time ever, right there in the stud...

This week’s Green Chili Chisme guest is former DCCW Champion Solrac Thunder — and this conversation goes deep. We talk about him losing his dad at four, being raised by his mom and grandparents in Los Lunas, and how wrestling became the place where performance and identity finally clicked.

We dive into NWA territory roots, the Guerreros, the Romeros, and what it means to carry a legacy in the ring. A powerful, honest episode with o...

Released in sync with Ron Franscell’s new novel, Deep End

This episode of Green Chili Chisme drops in perfect sync with the release of Ron Franscell’s new novel, Deep End: A Deaf Row Mystery — a timing we didn’t plan but absolutely leaned into on‑air.

What starts as a conversation about his book becomes something far deeper: a raw, unexpected meditation on fear, lineage, and the stories that keep us alive.

Ron talks about the two d...

In this sweeping, deeply personal conversation, legendary drummer Ernie Durawa takes us through a lifetime shaped by rhythm, resilience, and destiny. Raised behind his aunt’s San Antonio bar after losing his mother as a toddler, Ernie spent his earliest years falling asleep to conjunto music — a soundtrack that would define his life.

By 17, he was already playing with giants: Spot Barnett, John Lee Hooker, and Big Joe Turner. A twi...

From Guanajuato to the South Side of San Antonio, former Mrs. San Antonio Emilce Goreti Ferreira has been writing her own story since she was a kid — even before she knew she was a storyteller.

She grew up where you smell BBQ in the air and hear music on every block. A young mother who pushed through judgmental pageant rooms, she eventually became Mrs. San Antonio, then stepped into print work, music videos, films, and even a natio...

When Henry Gomez was ten years old, he joined his cousin, his brother, and a friend to form The Starlights — his first band. But the real story? He learned guitar by spying on his brother’s lessons from behind a bush, then sneaking in to practice when nobody was looking.

That’s the kind of origin story you can’t make up.

In today’s episode, we go from those early days all the way to Selena, Chris Pérez, mariachi marathons, picky co...

Born in Scotland and raised in Darby, filmmaker Mollie Leivars grew up in a working‑class family with deep roots — she still has all her grandparents and great‑grandparents in her life. School was never easy; anxiety pushed her out of the classroom and into homeschooling long before it was common. But at home, something else took shape. Her mother introduced her to film, and Mollie began putting on shows for her family before she c...

Robert LaRoche’s story begins in the paper mill town of Holyoke, Massachusetts, where music filled the house thanks to older siblings and a grandfather who immigrated from Canada. By twelve he had a guitar in his hands, and by fifteen he was earning money playing the songs that shaped him — especially the harmonies of The Everly Brothers, his lifelong influence.

In the late ’80s, Robert formed The Sighs, a band that would carry him...

Born on the Isle of Skye, Rona Walters was raised by her grandfather from age three to fourteen — a man who enrolled her in ballet before she could even understand what discipline meant. By four, she was already in a ballet club, dancing with a seriousness most adults never find. She stayed there until fourteen, when her life shifted dramatically.

She was moved into a private school and forced to negotiate for every moment she coul...

Season 2 opens with a conversation that feels less like an interview and more like two West Side kids catching up after a lifetime of living. We sit down with filmmaker, engineer, actor, and San Antonio original Jay Pennington, a man who grew up literally one street over from the Pedraza family. The episode begins where all great stories do — with bikes, cracked pavement, and a childhood fishing hole Jay revisits fifty years later.

In our latest Green Chili Chisme sit-down, we welcome Jack Pledge—an Air Force kid turned global troubadour.

He met his father for the first time after Korea in ’52. Went to grade school in Japan. Picked up the guitar in ’59. By ’71, he was busking in Spain and Africa.

Now, after losing his voice, Jack supports the singers he plays for—still carrying the groove, still building legacy.

This episode is a testament to resilience, rhyt...

Born in Corpus Christi, youngest of five boys, Allen Huff was raised on Czech roots and piano keys. His mom made every son take music—he chose the ivories. His first band didn’t have a name. His accordion just played Nissan Stadium.

We talk Flaco Jimenez, Dwight Yoakam, and the circles that keep expanding. We riff oldies, Engelbert Humperdinck, and the hook that’s been stuck in his head for 15 years. He got his GED at 40 after leav...

In today’s edition of Green Chili Chisme, we sit down with singer-songwriter Bridgette London, whose journey began in hardship and bloomed into musical freedom.

From learning “What the World Needs Now” on Jerry Lewis telethons to finding salvation in Waylon Jennings, Bridgette’s story is one of grit, grace, and groove. We talk influences—Heart, Willie, Etta, Stevie Ray—and shout out Jack Pledge and Eddie Perez of The Mavericks, who...

Lara Shah is one of the hardest working actresses I know. I was lucky enough to cast her in my short film The Last Rose before she left for Hollywood—and to this day, it remains one of my favorite projects. Lara’s journey has taken her through powerhouse platforms like MTV, Warner Brothers, and One Tree Hill, and today she joins us for a soulful catch-up. We talk about her creative path, the grind behind the glamour, and the spark ...

Our first overseas interview—and it’s a deep one. Shandon Sahm joins Green Chili Chisme from the Netherlands, where immigration officers recognized his name and ushered him in. That name? Doug Sahm—his father, his hero, and the soul we dive into like never before.

We talk:

• 🎸 Being the only Sahm kid born in Cali, and not touching music until high school

• 🧨 Parriah, his first band, and signing to a label early

• 🌵 Watching ...

She was the first Indigenous woman in North America to direct a major feature film. But Georgina Lightning is more than a pioneer — she’s a force. From Older Than America to Trickster, her work confronts history, heals wounds, and reclaims narrative power.

In this episode, Georgina opens up about her father’s experience in residential schools, the spiritual weight of storytelling, and her mission to elevate Indigenous voices throug...