The Day Job, Part XXIV

I will now add podcast producer to the list of things I do at the Y. While I've posted almost 100 "podcasts" since I've been here, they've all been clips of our public events pulled from the soundboard. But now we've started a new "pre-appearance" interview series called "Tell Me Why" with host Julian Fleisher (pictured here with Ana Gasteyer, not the bust of Dylan Thomas) that we record with a laptop, a pair of rock-n-roll mics and one of these things. So when I say "producer" here, I mean I'm actually wearing the headphones and pretending to monitor sound levels while Julian conducts the interview. I've already mastered the sideways wiggling thumb signs.

Julian is a great personality and noted jazz singer; he used to have a nightclub act with Martha Plimpton among other names-you-might-know collaborations. Other facts you might want to know include: 1) His dad is famed pianist Leon Fleisher. 2) A few years ago his mother found my blog and emailed me because she grew up with my uncle and dad in Baltimore - and of course, I only got around to meeting Julian when he recently pitched this project to the Y. 3) In that first meeting I find out he knows Choire Sicha and lives across the street from him. 4) New York is mostly gay and Jewish.

The first interview is with Bill Charlap, jazz pianist who is featured on David Remnick's 100 Essential Jazz albums list.