MICHAEL T ROBERTS
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News/Blog

"Heat Pump" World Tour

7/19/2024

 
“(I’m Your) Heat Pump” has been doing some world traveling since the video dropped on Earth Day this spring. 

NPR
Pumpin’ USA! “Heat Pump” went nationwide when the KQED radio story by Laura Klivans aired twice on NPR: first on Here and Now in May, then just this past week on All Things Considered. Juana Summers knows who I am! 

Weather.com 
Our YouTube views tripled in just a couple days, and I was surprised to receive an interview request from Weather.com, The Weather Channel website! (Weather and climate: not the same, but related!) Here’s the lovely article (and some video interview clips, live from the deck) by staff writer Jan Childs.
Picture
https://weather.com/news/climate/news/2024-07-18-heat-pump-global-warming-electrification
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https://x.com/drvolts/status/1786098998773964853?s=46&t=uEPnIaHadrMMvjb-rVlZCg
X
Dave Roberts (no relation) of the Volts podcast, well known in climate circles for his great show on climate tech (I am an avid listener), gave the video a sweet shout-out on Twitter. ​​

Down Under
A nice fellow named Brent Clark, from an Australian company called Wattblock, asked me if he could use the song for a video he’d put together: Beautiful Heat Pump Installs for Sydney Apartment Blocks (Wattblock promotes building electrification in Sydney). Why not? They really are beautiful. 
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. 

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  • Audio
  • About
    • Highlights from the Musical Life of Mike
    • Press Kit
  • Eco Soul
  • Works
    • Heat Pump
  • Commission
    • Previous Commissions
    • Commission Ideas and Process
  • News/Blog
    • Upcoming Events
  • More
    • Lessons
    • Duo Symphonious
    • Guitar Jukebox
    • Store
  • Contact