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George Hrab | |
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![]() Hrab in 2017 | |
Background information | |
Born | 1971or1972(age 52–53) Belleville, New Jersey, U.S. |
Origin | Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
Genres | Progressive rock, funk |
Occupation(s) | Musician, songwriter, podcaster, author |
Instrument(s) | Drums, guitar, bass, piano |
Years active | 1995–present |
Labels | Geologic Records |
Website | GeorgeHrab.com |
George Joseph Hrab is an American drummer, guitarist, composer and podcaster known for performing rock, funk and jazz and for exploring atheist, [1] skeptic and science themes in his work. [2] He has released six albums as a solo artist.
Hrab was born in Belleville, New Jersey and grew up speaking Ukrainian and surrounded by Ukrainian culture. [3] In 1989, he graduated from Montclair Kimberley Academy in Montclair, New Jersey. [4]
Hrab performs in several genres of music, but most often in rock and funk. His songs often reflect his interest in science and skepticism. [2] Hrab lists Frank Zappa and David Byrne as key influences. "You can shake your ass to it, but it's still really smart and interesting," he says. [5] He has described his style of music with one word: Philosophunk! "I’m a big fan of Frank Zappa, Talking Heads, XTC, the Beatles, and things like that. Those are my influences, but at the same time, I’m a huge fan of Stan Freberg and James Randi and Michael Shermer and those kinda guys. So it’s sort of like philosophy and music… What I do is I coalesce the vapors of the universe." [6]
Hrab has released six albums since 1997 as an independent musician. One of Hrab's approaches as an independent artist is to customize the packaging of each his albums. One features a tin box, one in a DVD case, etc. "Each one stands out as a piece of art, giving his fans a genuine reason to buy the physical disc as merchandise, not just a music holder." [7] [8] Two of his albums have won ADDY Awards for their packaging. [9] [10]
Aside from his solo work, Hrab has been a member of many bands over the course of his career. [11]
In 1998, Hrab was the touring drummer for the Eric Mintel Quartet, and recorded one jazz album with them. The highlight of this tour was when the group played "cool '50s swing" at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. [12] and at a White House Christmas party. [13]
Hrab's job is playing drums for a Philadelphia-area based band called the Philadelphia Funk Authority. [7] [12] The nine-member band was formed in 1999 and plays corporate, private, and club shows in the region around Philadelphia and also tours nationwide. The group has shared the stage with Elton John and other acts. [14]
When performing his own material with a band, Hrab has called the group the Geologic Orchestra. [16] The band is made up of some members of the Philadelphia Funk Authority and other musicians, and has played in a seven-piece configuration among others. [12]
Hrab's sixth independent album Trebuchet was released in June 2010. As a means of promoting the album, he offered the full album to any podcast who wanted to run it, uncut, in their feed. Many podcasts such as Skepticality, [17] American Freethought [18] and We Are Not Delicious [19] took him up on his offer. The album is available as a conventional CD [20] and digital download. [21] [22]
From November 26 – December 5, 2010, Hrab embarked on an entirely fan-organized tour of Australia and New Zealand. [23] The tour began with appearances at The Amazing Meeting Australia, a skeptical and freethinker conference co-sponsored by the Australian Skeptics and the James Randi Educational Foundation. [24] In ten days, Hrab played in four Australian states, the Australian Capital Territory and the north and south islands of New Zealand. [25]
The tour was named "Styrofoam" after a malapropism created as an inside joke by Kylie Sturgess. [26] [27]
In September 2013, Hrab announced the inception of The Blue Turtles, a band formed to cover Sting's first solo album, The Dream of the Blue Turtles. [28] The debut performance was July 20, 2014 at the Ice House in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania as a part of the Ice House Tonight concert series. [29] [30]
In 2015, Hrab performed Occasional Songs for the Periodic Table as a part of the Ice House Tonight series in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. While Hrab previously performed the album on his podcast, [31] and live in an abbreviated version in Las Vegas, this was the first time the entire concert was performed live. The concert consisted of a song written and performed by Hrab for each of the 118 elements on the Periodic Table. [32]
In 2016, Hrab performed a greatest hits concert featuring string Quartet versions of songs from five of his albums at the Ice House in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. During the concert, Hrab performed with the Rittenhouse String Quartet. Together they performed arrangements of Hrab’s songs arranged by Veikko Rihu and Slau Halatyn [33] [34]
In 2016, Hrab reprised The Broad Street Score at the Fashion Institute of Technology’s, Katie Murphy Amphitheater as part of the annual NECSS conference. [35] [36] The show made its international debut on August 24, 2016 in Turku, Finland. [37]
After being featured on the podcast Skepticality, [6] Hrab was invited by its hosts to Dragon Con in 2006. There he performed and met many podcasters who became interested in featuring his music. He credits this exposure for worldwide interest in his music. "Folks from Australia and Singapore who should have no idea who I am have downloaded songs and bought albums. That is purely due to podcasts," Hrab said. [38]
In the summer of 2006, [39] Hrab hosted a weekly program called The Geologic Radio Hour on the Lehigh University radio station WLVR-FM. Listed as "free form eclectic" and running at midnight on Tuesdays, it featured spoken word segments and a number of comedy sketches developed by Hrab. [40]
Based on the experience of the radio program and the contacts made in podcasting in 2006, and encouraged by his friend and producer Slau, [41] Hrab launched his own podcast in February 2007. [42]
The Geologic Podcast is a weekly podcast consisting of personal stories, comedy sketches, news commentary, music and interviews, starring Hrab. The content often draws from Hrab's musical career, the music industry in general and from topics that relate to skepticism, atheism, rationalism and humanism. The title is a pun on Hrab's first name and his interest in rationalism; the podcast contains "not a hint of geology". [43] New episodes of the program are posted weekly.
The podcast content varies from week to week, but often includes several of a number of recurring segments. Some are Hrab speaking on a particular topic or relating a story, others are comedy sketches in which Hrab plays characters. Occasionally the podcast will take the form of a concert, with Hrab singing and playing guitar. [44] [45] Hrab celebrated his 44th birthday by covering Yes' album 90125 in its entirety. [46] Hrab has also conducted interviews with musicians such as Slau [47] and Milton Mermikides, [48] as well as others. [49]
In February 2017, Hrab celebrated 10 years of the podcast with an eight-hour 500th episode which was broadcast as video on Facebook Live. The broadcast has featured interviews with Steven Novella, Phil Plait, and Paul Provenza, and others. [41] [50]
Other than Hrab's mother and the interviews, nearly all the voices on the program are provided by Hrab.
Hrab has performed on or has been interviewed by a number of other podcasts, including the Friendly Atheist, [80] Skepticality , [6] [81] The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe , [82] [83] Slacker Astronomy, [84] Sessions with Slau , [85] The Rabbit Zone, [86] The Nonsense Podcast, [87] The Skeptic Zone , [88] Point of Inquiry , [89] Inquiry FM, [90] Artist Connection Podcast, [91] The Pseudo Scientists , [92] Maynard's Malaise, [93] [94] Cognitive Dissonance, [95] The Story Collider, [96] and InKredulous. [97] [98]
Hrab also wrote and recorded the theme song for the 365 Days of Astronomy podcast, FAR. [99] He created and performed in the associated music video. [100]
Hrab's TEDx Talk at TEDxLehighRiver on September 19, 2015 was "Rethinking Doubt: The Value and Achievements of Skepticism." [101] [102] [103]
On June 4, 2016, Hrab served as emcee of Reason Rally in Washington, D.C. [104] On June 5, 2016, Hrab moderated a celebrity panel with Kelly Carlin, John de Lancie, Lawrence Krauss, Paul Provenza, and Dave Rubin at the mini-conference that followed the Reason Rally. [105]
Following the release of sic, Hrab was sued for invasion of privacy by a former supervisor from his job at Moravian College. [114] She claimed that a short phrase written in cyrillic script in the liner notes and one track on the album were intended as a disparaging remark directed at her, which embarrassed her in front of her coworkers. Hrab denied the charges and the case went to trial in January 1999. Hrab lost the case and had to pay damages, and the album was removed from distribution.
Hrab documented the entire affair, including reenacting all of the testimony at trial, on his podcast. [115] [116] In 2006, the album was re-released with the disparaging material removed.
Hrab is of Ukrainian Catholic [1] descent and was born in New Jersey. His father (also named George Hrab) is a musician who has performed in a band called Tempo since 1959. [117] Hrab has lived in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania [13] since attending Moravian College, [1] where he received a bachelors in music in 1993. [118] In the summer of 2011, Hrab revealed on his podcast that he is allergic to penicillin. [119]
Bethlehem is a city in Northampton and Lehigh Counties in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 census, Bethlehem had a total population of 75,781, making it the second-largest city in the Lehigh Valley after Allentown and the seventh-largest city in the state. Among its total population as of 2020, 55,639 were in Northampton County and 19,343 were in Lehigh County. The city is located along the Lehigh River, a 109-mile-long (175 km) tributary of the Delaware River.
Moravian University is a private university in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The institution traces its founding to 1742 by Moravians, descendants of followers of the Bohemian Reformation under John Amos Comenius. Founded as a girls school in 1742, the College itself was founded as the Moravian College and Theological Seminary in 1807 and was accredited in 1863. In 2021, the College was elevated to a University. Moravian University uses the foundation of the Girls school as their foundation date which would make them the sixth-oldest college in the United States.
Skepticality was the official podcast of The Skeptics Society's Skeptic magazine. Beginning in May 2005, the podcast explores rational thought, skeptical ideas, and famous myths from around the world and throughout history. Each episode is an audio magazine featuring regular segments by contributors who are specialized in specific areas of critical thought followed by featured content which is usually in the form of an interview with a researcher, author, or individual who is helping promote skeptical thought and/or science in an effective way. It has featured interviews with James Randi, and scientists, such as authors and astronomers Phil Plait and Neil deGrasse Tyson, Greg Graffin from Bad Religion, Adam Savage from the MythBusters, songwriter Jill Sobule, author Ann Druyan and science communicator Bill Nye.
Musikfest is an American music festival that has been held annually since 1984 in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania. It is the nation's largest non-gated free music festival. The festival begins on the first Friday in August, though it has been preceded since 2015 with a Thursday preview night involving the premium stage and adjacent areas. The festival ends the second Sunday thereafter.
Slau is an American singer/songwriter and producer of Ukrainian descent living in New York City. He is best known in the podcasting and podsafe music world for producing the Podsafe for Peace holiday anthem "If Every Day Were Christmas".
Maynard, formerly known as Maynard F# Crabbes, is an Australian entertainer, television presenter and radio announcer. He was a key figure in bringing the ABC's youth-oriented radio station Triple J to national prominence, and he worked at ABC radio and as a video presenter for many years. He appeared as himself in the Australian film The Castanet Club.
Travis Unwin, known professionally as Evo Terra, is an American podcaster, author, radio broadcaster, and businessman based in Bangkok, Thailand. Terra is the author of Podcasting For Dummies, originator of The Beer Diet, a travel blogger, and an early pioneer in podcasting.
The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe (SGU) is an American weekly skeptical podcast hosted by Steven Novella, MD, along with a panel of contributors. The official podcast of the New England Skeptical Society, it was named to evoke The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. The show features discussions of recent scientific developments in layman's terms, and interviews authors, people in the area of science, and other famous skeptics. The SGU podcast includes discussions of myths, conspiracy theories, pseudoscience, the paranormal, and other forms of superstition, from the point of view of scientific skepticism.
Death from the Skies!: These Are The Ways The World Will End is a book by the American astronomer Phil Plait, also known as "the Bad Astronomer". The book was published in 2008 and explores the various ways in which the human race could be rendered extinct by astronomical phenomena.
365 Days of Astronomy is an educational podcast, inspired by the International Year of Astronomy, published daily beginning in 2009. It is produced as a collaboration between Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and Astrosphere New Media Association. The individual episodes are written, recorded, and produced by people all around the world. The podcast had 3,000–10,000 listeners each day.
Richard Saunders is an Australian scientific skeptic and podcaster. In 2001, he was awarded a life membership by Australian Skeptics and has twice served as their president. He has presented on skepticism, represented the Australian Skeptics on television and radio shows, and is the co-host of The Skeptic Zone podcast.
Edinburgh Skeptics is a nonprofit organisation that promotes science, reason and critical thinking in Edinburgh and throughout Scotland. It was founded in 2009. The Society hosts regular social and educational events in Edinburgh and has campaigned against the use of homeopathy and challenged claims of ghost sightings.
The Merseyside Skeptics Society (MSS) is a nonprofit organisation that promotes scientific scepticism in Merseyside and the United Kingdom. Founded in 2009, the society has campaigned against the use of homeopathy, challenged the claims of psychics, and hosts regular events in Liverpool, podcasts, and an annual conference in Manchester, QED: Question. Explore. Discover.
Sharon A. Hill is an American science writer and speaker known for her research into the interaction between science and the public, focusing on education and media topics. Hill's research has dealt mainly with paranormal, pseudoscience, and strange natural phenomena and began at the University at Buffalo, where she performed her graduate work in this area. Hill attended Pennsylvania State University, earning her Bachelor of Science degree in geosciences and working as a Pennsylvania geologist.
The Northeast Conference on Science and Skepticism is a four-day conference focusing on science and skepticism founded in 2009 and held annually in New York City. NECSS is jointly run by the New York City Skeptics (NYCS) and the New England Skeptical Society (NESS). The Society for Science-Based Medicine joined as a full sponsor of the conference in 2015. As of 2016, attendance was estimated at approximately 500 people.
QED: Question, Explore, Discover is an annual skeptical conference held in Manchester, England. QED is organised by North West Skeptical Events Ltd (NWSE), a volunteer-owned non-profit organisation originating from a collaboration between the Merseyside Skeptics Society and the Greater Manchester Skeptics Society.
Ari David Shaffir is an American comedian, actor, podcaster, writer, and producer. He produces and hosts the Skeptic Tank podcast. He also co-hosts the podcast Punch Drunk Sports with Jayson Thibault and Sam Tripoli, and is a regular guest on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast on the "Protect Our Parks" episodes with Shane Gillis and Mark Normand. He created and previously hosted and produced the This is Not Happening television series, an adaptation of his monthly stand-up show.
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: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link) (Hrab played drums & bass)