Please meet our better halves! This week, Kathleen Gallacher and Roe Sie have entered the chat. We discuss their hobbies, careers, favorite songs, special movies, and quirkiest habits... all topped off with a nail-biting round of The Newlywed Game. 

Roe's favorite thing this week is his sourdough starter and Kathleen's is her Line A Day journal.

Now it's Liz's turn to create her perfect dinner party. Setting the tone musically and scoring an event comes naturally to Liz, of course... plus she's a terrific chef. So we can assume the music is on point and the menu is divine. But you'll never guess who she's invited and what she has in store for the night. 

Also, this week, Trish's favorite thing is Dr. Laurie Santos' podcast, THE HAPPINESS LAB.

Creating a dream dinner party isn't so different from filmmaking. There's lighting, production design, set dressing, storyline, pacing, interpersonal chemistry, music supervision and even costuming to consider. Plus food, of course!

This week, Trish walks us through her perfect fantasy dinner party, leaving no detail unexplored. Her playlists for every stage of the evening are linked below.

You can find the game Wavelength here.

Also, this week, Liz's favorite thing is English chocolate. She introduces Trish to her top four varieties and we rank them!

This week, Liz and Trish decided to shelve the scheduled episode to talk instead about something pressing and personal—the devastating fires in Los Angeles. In light of the ongoing crisis, they reflect on the overwhelming emotions of helplessness, anger, and hope that so many are grappling with.

To help process, Liz has curated a playlist of songs for the planet. This playlist ranges from uplifting and inspirational tracks to more raw and angry anthems, capturing the wide spectrum of emotions we experience in the face of disaster. Whether you need a moment of catharsis or a spark of hope, this collection offers something for everyone.

This week Trish's favorite thing is the power of bravery—the bravery of first responders, of course, but also the everyday heroes: people showing up for their neighbors, the animals surviving the chaos, and everyone coming together to face the unthinkable. Bravery is showing up, even when the odds feel insurmountable, and Trish celebrates the courage on display in these unimaginable times.

No cocktail this week—just a gentle nudge to drink plenty of water and stay hydrated, especially in times of stress. Take care of yourselves!

This week, we examine and discuss the movie Grosse Pointe Blank (1997), diving into the iconic soundtrack and the way it underscores the film's characters, storylines, comedy, and themes.

Also, Trish's favorite thing this week is the book THE RED TAROT, by diviner and educator Christopher Marmolejo.

In preparation for 2025, we're celebrating and imagining what might lie ahead. From musicians and filmmakers we're watching, to composers we'd love to hire to score the entire year-- join us in laying out a smorgasbord of exciting possibilities.

Also, Trish's favorite thing this week is fingerless gloves.

Happy holidays to all! This week, we're exploring Christmas songs made famous by the movies in which they first appeared.

Plus, Liz's favorite thing is The Corduroy Cuddle, which may or may not lead to a new career as a Professional Cuddle Service Provider.

Does the world need another year-end list? Probably not. But we put our own spin on one anyway. Songs and movies to ring out the year, On Cue-style.

Plus, Trish's favorite thing this week is rodent contraceptive.

Up here in the Northern hemisphere, as the shortest day of the year draws near, we're snuggling up with our honeys and sharing our perfect movie date nights, complete with soundtracks, heartwarming films, and sexy songs. Light a candle or two and join us!

Plus, Liz's favorite thing this week is the bundle of family films she's seen in 2024 with her son, Oliver and her wife, Kathleen.

How do we get permission to use a song in film or TV? Who needs to be paid, and what's the process? With years of experience under her belt, Liz gets into the nitty gritty of music clearances and dishes the dirt on which artists are hard to clear, which artists she loves to place in projects, and what issues you never knew had to be considered along the way.

Also Trish's favorite thing this week is a hardboiled egg.

Cheers to a cozy week with loved ones! Here at On Cue, we're honoring this holiday with an exploration of inspiring music from Indigenous artists. Liz has curated a wide variety of fantastic songs, spanning diverse genres and styles. Hope you're safe and cared for this season.

Also, Liz's favorite thing this week: Will & Harper, the Netflix documentary.

Link To Donate to Black Belt Eagle Scout's (Katherine Paul) Go Fund Me Page

Some might consider them guilty pleasures. But here at On Cue, it's our mission to rescue certain songs from the shadowy depths of shame and embarrassment. We're rebranding these savory and sweet auditory nuggets as GIVE NO F*CKS songs: tracks that might have caused a cringe when we were younger, but now we openly love with full-throated and reckless abandon. 

Also, Liz's favorite thing this week: Trusted HouseSitters. Get 25% off when you use thislink.

In the wake of a dramatic, far-reaching and consequential US election, you may be feeling drained, confused, overwhelmed or even brokenhearted. While we can't offer any quick fixes, we do appreciate that the right song at the right time can bring comfort, resilience, faith and a way forward. Putting together this episode was a cathartic and restorative exercise for us. Our hope is that it might bring you some relief as well.

Thanks to the musicians who keep making music, lifting us all up and pushing us forward. And thanks to all of you for listening.

Our favorite things this week are tools we've recently discovered to help us make sense of the world:

Thoughtful, nonpartisan news and analysis via Tangle News is here.

Hope for Cynics: The Surprising Science of Human Goodness, by Dr. Jamil Zaki, is here.

Meet our friend, Miguel Rodriguez! He's a professional saxophonist, with a love of jazz and improvisation. As a music producer, a developer of music-centered apps, and a multi-disciplinary collaborator, he dishes on his wide range of musical influences-- from Kenny G, Stan Getz and Sade, to N.E.R.D. and Mk.Gee. 

Plus, we taste-test non-alcoholic adaptogen cocktails and expound upon the benefits of meditation and mindfulness.

You can check out his ongoing improvisational dance and music collaboration with Jake Kus Moyle here.

Reviews were mixed on this week’s drink, an alcohol-free "social tonic" called HIYO. It comes in a can, so there's no recipe to share!

This episode is not for the faint of heart. It's Trish's turn to direct her dream funeral, and she's not exactly squeamish about this sort of thing.

Plus, her favorite thing this week is her gaggle of skeleton friends in the front yard, along with the musical soundtrack Liz has provided for this year's Halloween scene.

Dr. Amanda Gretsch, PhD, MS, OTR/L, is an occupational therapist with nearly 25 years of experience working with individuals who have sensory and motor issues, trauma history, attention issues, Cerebral Vascular Accident (CVA) and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). She also helps people simply improve their overall brain function. Happily, she's one of Liz's best friends, and she joins us this week to discuss how our brains and emotions are affected by music. She even used EEGs to track differences in our brain activity while we listened to our favorite happy and sad music!

Liz's favorite thing this week is her new t-shirt hookup: teepublic.com

Spooky Season is in full swing. As the Northern Hemisphere turns toward darker days, we here at On Cue are turning towards darker topics.

This week, Liz lovingly and thoughtfully curates a soundtrack and emotional musical experience to score her dream funeral. Discover who shows up to celebrate Liz's life, what bands reunite in her memory, and which tracks will be sending her off to the Underworld.

Plus, Trish discusses her new love for environmentally-responsible wax-free liquid candles and her favorite all-natural botanical incense, perfect for moody autumn nights. You can find the forever candles here and the seasonal incense here.

Kestrin is a rock cellist who has appeared onstage alongside Weezer, Beck and Brandi Carlile. She also invented, built and captained a legendary glam RV which she and Disney imagineers outfitted as a rave cave karaoke studio. She's written, directed and starred in feature films. She plays with David Wain and Ken Marino's Middle Aged Dad Jam Band. She lived in Taiwan for a while and speaks fluent Mandarin. There's more to say about Kestrin than any single episode of a podcast can possibly cover, but we get to as much as we can.

Kestrin and her work can be be found here.

The Middle Aged Dad Jam Band can be found here.

Plus, Trish's favorite thing this week is West Coast Swing dance classes. Wanna get dancing, too? Her favorite places to take lessons in LA are with Tip & Teveya and at Motivo.

Gemma writes about music, fashion, and culture, specializing in intimate one-on-one artist interviews. While her sub-par drawing skills ruled out a coveted career in fashion design, she's found her niche, and this month celebrates the tenth anniversary of PUSS PUSS magazine. As co-editor, she's passionate about helping PUSS PUSS channel the insouciant, indomitable and independent spirit of cats in fashion and pop culture.

Gemma delivers some choice dirt on her most memorable interviews, the fresh new artists she's loving these days, and why Empire Records is her favorite movie. Plus, she reads the Tarot card of the week!

Sheila has years of experience in the entertainment industry, ever since the show biz bug got a hold of her at age 15. She ditched her plan to become a lawyer and dove headfirst into filmmaking by the time she graduated high school.

Fast forward to today: as SVP of Creative Development at Warner Bros, Sheila has worked on the critically acclaimed musical adaptations of THE COLOR PURPLE and IN THE HEIGHTS, as well as TWISTERS and GODZILLA X KONG sequels, plus the upcoming films FLOWERVALE STREET and a forthcoming project with BLACK PANTHER director, Ryan Coogler. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

We discuss the movies that move us, personal playlists for all occasions, the challenges of adapting musicals to the screen, and the importance of culture in storytelling and entertainment.