Podcast listeners! My "Heat Pump"/"Geothermal" partner Will Hammond, Jr and I are featured on the most recent episode of Climate One, from the Commonwealth Club. Listen on Apple Podcasts Link to episode home page They talk about us in the intro, then our interview begins at 30:27. We talk climate action, music, and one of my favorite things, the Climate Venn Diagram. In between is a great interview with—indeed—environmentalist / drag queen Pattie Gonia. I highly recommend listening to it. Pattie has a lot of astute insights into climate action (my favorite: "Joy is strategic") and, as you might imagine, a fascinating backstory. |
I checked out their website but I'll admit I couldn't stay long, as I was too intimidated by their amazing talents and accomplishments. I realized quickly why they are the sole headliner on the episode! I'll have you know, however, that the podcast producers told us our songs gave them the idea for the episode. So we've got that going for us (even if Yo-Yo Ma didn't play on our songs).
Happy Season, everyone!
Quick story: back in the 90's my Heat Pump / Geothermal partner Will Hammond, Jr. wrote a song for singer Tara Kemp ("Hold You Tight") that went to #3 on the Billboard charts. This year Will and Tara teamed up to record some Christmas tunes, and their cover of the Donny Hathaway classic "This Christmas" features yours truly on guitar (starting about a minute in). It's a great version of a great (and underappreciated) Christmas song. I hope it will help make your Christmas a very special Christmas! This Christmas on YouTube This Christmas on Spotify This Christmas on Apple Music P.S. If your tastes run a little more traditional, there's always this little blast from the not-too-distant past. Twelve years old and still makes merry! Joyous Yuletide, my friends. So this came together pretty quickly. In my last post I mentioned that KQED’s story on (I’m Your) Heat Pump had recently aired on NPR. Turns out that story was heard by one Jamie Beard, Founder and Executive Director of Project InnerSpace, a non-profit dedicated to advancing geothermal energy (a 24/7 renewable that often flies under the radar but deserves to be in the power conversation alongside solar and wind). In July she sent me an e-mail with the generous subject header, “The heat pump song is amazing,” and an admirably concise body text: Can I get you to do a geothermal gig as a follow on. Would love to discuss. Debut at NY climate week. Jamie
What’s Next
As the Weather.com article noted (breaking news alert!), I have been playing with ideas for a song about induction cooktops. And it’s true, the ideas have not exactly sprung forth the way the Heat Pump tune seemed to, but that is to be expected and all part of the creative fun. Sequels are hard. I have one idea that’s good but maybe sounds a little too much like an ad, and one pretty weird idea that could either be great or terrible—not sure which just yet. A singing heat pump was pretty weird too, so I might be on the right track. Meanwhile, and not too unrelatedly, I have been working on setting ritual texts to music for The Ancient Order of Druids in America. Also collecting text ideas and starting to write music for a Wheel of the Year songbook—like a set of Christmas carols but for the Solstices, Equinoxes, and cross-quarter days. Recently I set the Sara Teasdale poem, Dusk in June (for the Summer Solstice, of course). I'll share that music down the road! Keep on pumpin', everyone. Happy Earth Day, friends! I'm very excited to announce the official debut of the (I'm Your) Heat Pump music video! You can watch directly on YouTube, but I recommend checking it out via this entertaining blog post on the history of the song from Friday Apaliski, communications director for The Switch Is On. As Friday relates, it was a conversation she and I had about a year ago that spawned the unlikely idea of writing music about home electrification. She has been the song's biggest advocate every step of the way, and the video would not have happened without her and the entire Switch Is On team. They hired a great marketing firm here in Berkeley, Polytechnic, who in turn hired the crack video team at Be Media to direct and produce the video, and they secured a corporate sponsor (Mitsubishi - you may notice their equipment prominently featured, and that's cool because I am a happy Mitsubishi heat pump owner myself), AND they did it all in what I understand is record time.
I don’t think I’ve talked about it much in these blog posts, but climate advocacy has been a big part of my life for the last several years, and promoting home electrification (i.e. replacing gas appliances with efficient, climate-friendly electric ones) has been a big part of that. As you’ll hear in the song, I had a lot of fun bringing that world and my musical world together. I got to channel my love of old school R&B, along with my 13-year-old sense of humor (still highly active). Susan mentions Marvin Gaye and Barry White as influences; true, though the biggest was probably D’Angelo (think Brown Sugar era, circa 1995). The ultimate goal: an awesome music video. Plans are in the works. Stay tuned.
The article mentions the non-profit The Switch Is On; I’ve been one of their electrification ambassadors ever since we replaced all our gas appliances with electric ones a few years ago. They’re a great resource for learning about home electrification, especially if you’re in California. (Another great resource, this one nationwide, is Rewiring America.) Please enjoy some heat pump love! If so, then you might enjoy this song I wrote for the Radioactives (and recorded in demo form): Do you know the Teddy Pendergrass song, Get Up, Get Down, Get Funky, Get Loose? The vibe of the music is lighthearted, but if you listen closely to the words, they’re deadly serious.
What is Teddy deadly serious about? Partying. He is singing this song for a purpose, and this purpose is to let you know in no uncertain terms that he is here to party, and he is going to party come hell or high water, and if you are in Teddy’s general vicinity you had better get down to business and start partying too. (Threats are never specifically issued but, I believe, are implied.) So I wondered: what if a Teddy-like funkster sang with equal seriousness about their passion for the delicate, many-splendored beauty of flowers? Please note that I wrote this song for Will Hammond, Jr. to sing, but this is me singing on the demo, and I am not half the singer that Will is. I am just trying to point the way for him. Someday I hope you’ll get to hear it the way it’s meant to be, but I got impatient and wanted to share it with you. I hope you like it as much as I like flowers. If you go way back with me, you know that playing electric guitar, preferably in a band, is my bread and butter. From age 13 through 26, I was rarely without a band, culminating in Stand Up Eight. That was a good band, and sort of ruined me for playing in any other band. After we amicably dissolved in 2004, the closest I came for the next fifteen years was playing with Zac in Duo Symphonious.
As far as the funky bass goes: four years in, I think I might finally be getting the hang of it. But let me know what you think: check out my post on collaborations with Radioactives singer Will Hammond, Jr.
![]() World Parade My bass guitar debut on the wider interwebs! Penned and produced by Radioactives vocalist Will Hammond, Jr.: World Parade on Spotify World Parade on Apple Music World Parade on YouTube I played guitar on this one too. Will wrote the song for a Ukraine benefit at the Cowell Theater in San Francisco. Though Will and I are the only Radioactives on the studio version above, the Radioactives did give the live premiere of the tune at the Cowell Theater—and we got a video! World Parade Radioactives live premiere - Cowell Theater, San Francisco, June 2022 Can You Feel Me This one really is just a seed, but I think a tasty one. Following the World Parade premiere, Will sent me an instrumental idea and invited me to flow with it. Starting with the initial keyboard and drum track Will provided, I added bass, electric guitars, and a synth lead. Will it ever turn into a real song? Who knows! Enjoy the sound of two Radioactives playing in the sandbox: Can You Feel Me (sketch)
Duo Symphonious: for your TV news and NFL enjoyment
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AuthorComposer Michael T Roberts shares his thoughts on writing, playing, and teaching music. Comments? Please e-mail Mike. Archives
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