I've been fortunate to host the Marketplace Morning Report from mid-June until... tomorrow. About seven months. As I wrap up, I thought I'd throw together a sampling of some notable interviews from my stint, before they are so deeply subsumed by the Long Tail that even I lack the energy to retrieve them...
I'm psyched to start hosting the Marketplace Morning Report, along with Jeremy Hobson (the show has two hosts, who rotate among the seven casts each morning). It's a nice chance to quickly get busy after my degree, and just about the best way I could think of to put my creative, radio and economics chops together. It's a temporary arrangement; I'm on the show through August.
I go on the air Monday. Only two minor adaptations were required: One was relocating to Los Angeles. The other is the 1 a.m. to 9 a.m. shift. Yeah, yikes. But what doesn't kill us makes us stronger, right?
I'm also optimistic I'll be able to adjust to the overnight hours.
I'm closing in on the end of my return-to-school, and naturally contemplating what's next. Given that Googling me or typing in "JeffHorwich.com" will deposit someone right here, one essential thing to do is to post a:
The all-purpose résumé posted here encompasses the full range of my background, as well the current range of possible directions for my next career move. I'm looking to invite any and all possibilities at the moment, though perhaps certain aspects of my portfolio of past work (news-based parody songs?) might cause a brief, puzzled pause at some prospective employers.
So be it. I've lived out my professional life so far in a rather public fashion; no use running from my oeuvre -- of which I am proud, in any case. For those interested in more about the artistic aspects of my personality and experience, the other pages of this web site will be a guide.
Decided I need to change things up on the digital distribution of the EP. Things're now funneled through CD Baby, which generates this nifty little widget for you to, you know, buy the tracks
Whew... gone dark for a while there while I began my journey from "musician-journalist" to "musician-journalist-with-an-economics-degree." With that in mind, let's pick up with a Christmas tune that's got an economic twist. A live recording from our last (sniff!) Story Slam, at the end of 2007. Three years later, I'm still failing.
It's back to school time! Not just for the rest of the world this year, but for me too. Been so busy I haven't posted in a while, but I'm here to keep it alive. This was from a spring 2007 show on education: Schoolhouse Rock meets a truly cynical history of U.S. public schoolin'. With Robin Johnson in her first-ever performance in the role of "Jimmy," Joe Weismann on various manly voices, and The Smarts backin' me up. And for those of you viewing this (podcast) post on the web, here's the video, still doing decent traffic on YouTube:
Went dark for a few weeks here while I dug into my new life as a grad student in economics. Been taking math and software courses...the semester itself starts after Labor Day. It's all happened by matters of degrees, but that will put a final cap on the first part of my career -- a decade in public radio. In honor of that, here's a re-release of the last song I ever did for the show -- meant to catapult myself off into the next thing. Well, here it comes. And hey, if you're viewing this on the blog, here's the video:
The video of the live performance on Twin Cities Public Television. (Never know quite what to do with my face during the introduction. Just look contemplatively at the guy talking, I guess.)
Hold up: Something new? Yes, indeed, it's a brand new song. I had a date with Twin Cities Public Television's "Almanac" to write a song about the week's news, and I was drawn to the latest grim forecasts for the spread of Asian Carp into the Great Lakes. Decided to model it after a children's song I remembered -- maybe you do too?
Surfing for something fun to post today, I smiled listening to this again. From the nostalgia-shrouded, beautiful, creative days of our live show -- and also the depths of disenchantment with a certain now-ex-president. With the drubbing Obama's getting in his public approval these days, this is a reminder that he has much farther to sink. The magical thing about this recording -- and you can hear it from the audience -- is that this song arose in the midst of a show not about politics, but about whether we're defined by our jobs. They never saw it coming. Features The Smarts backing me up, of course...and one of my first attempts to play mandolin in front of a crowd of people.
Six months since the Haiti quake, and the giving has slowed big-time. Predictably, everyone rushes to give in the early days, then forgets a few months on. The headlines made me recall this parody celebrity giving song I worked up in the heat of all that. There's nothing funny about Haiti, of course. But it seemed a fine time to send-up the phenomenon of borderline-unintelligible singers.
Today, it's about to hit 90 degrees and I'm getting a cold. So... why not post a song about a building in the United Arab Emirates (the world's tallest) that was written and recorded on a day when I also happened to have a cold? Brilliant! I love this song because it's got a beautiful error: My first take of the guitar was recorded with the channel open, and feeding back on itself. But I liked the airy sound enough that I just kept it.
As fanboys and fangals brave heat and pitying looks from the rest of us to line up for hours for the new iPhone, I recalled this dandy little tune. It feels only slightly dated -- wrote this when Steve Jobs was recovering from his cancer scare, and the tech world was speculating about a post-Jobs-world. In fact, is there even such a thing?
After his lackluster speech the other night, and the BP thing just getting worse and worse, and the Tea Party ascendant, and the bloom clearly off the rose... it seemed like the right time to bring back this particular tune from the show, from maybe about a year ago. Obama was everywhere, doing everything -- such ambition. Here's your dose of nostalgia.
