User:Obsidianspider/George Hrab

George Joseph Hrab (born June 8, 1971 in Belleville, New Jersey) is a drummer, guitarist, composer, podcaster, and orator known for performing rock, funk and jazz and for exploring atheist, skeptic and science themes in his work. He has released six studio albums and one live concert DVD.

Musical career
Hrab performs in several genres of music, but most often in rock and funk. His lyrics are often witty. 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. 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.”

Hrab has released six albums and one live concert DVD since 1996 as an independent musician. One of Hrab's unique approaches as an indie 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." Two of his albums have won ADDY Awards for their packaging.

Aside from his solo work, Hrab has been a member of many bands of the course of his career, he listed the entire history in one episode of his podcast. The most notable groups are listed below.

Eric Mintel Quartet
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 and the White House Christmas party.

Philadelphia Funk Authority
Hrab's "day job" is playing drums for a Philadelphia-area band called the Philadelphia Funk Authority. The nine-member band was formed in 1999 and plays corporate, private and club gigs in the region around Philadelphia and also tours nationwide. The group has shared the stage with Elton John and other acts.

Band members

 * Matt Asti – keyboards
 * Ross Brown – percussion
 * Dale Gerheart – lead vocals, trombone
 * George Hrab – drums, vocals
 * Andy Kowal – trumpet, percussion
 * Andy Portz – guitar, vocals
 * Vinnie Puccio – bass
 * Jillian Rhys McCoy – lead vocals
 * Gary Rivenson – band leader, bass guitar
 * Raysa Michelle Rivera – lead vocals
 * Neil Wetzel – saxophones

Geologic Orchestra
When performing his own material with a band, Hrab has called the group the Geologic Orchestra. The band is made up of some members of the Philadelphia Funk Authority as well as other musicians, and has played in a seven-piece configuration among others.

Trebuchet
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, American Freethought and We Are Not Delicious took him up on his offer. (See below for background on Hrab's ties to the podcasting community). The album is also available as a conventional CD and digital download.

The Styrofoam Tour
From November 26 – December 5, 2010, Hrab embarked on an entirely fan-organized tour of Australia and New Zealand. 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. In ten days, Hrab traveled to and played in four Australian states, the Australian Capital Territory and the north and south islands of New Zealand.

The tour was named "Styrofoam" after a malapropism created as an inside joke by Kylie Sturgess.

The Blue Turtles
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. The debut performance was on July 20, 2014 at the Ice House in Bethlehem, PA as a part of the Ice House Tonight concert series. A subsequent performance was held on July 25, 2014 at the ArtsQuest Center at SteelStacks.

Band members

 * Slau Halatyn – vocals, guitar
 * George Hrab – drums
 * Neil Wetzel – saxophone
 * Vinnie Puccio – bass
 * CJ Steinway – keyboards
 * Alisa B. Anderson – vocals
 * Kiera Wilhelm – vocals

Dark Side of the Moon
Hrab performed Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon as a part of the Ice House Tonight series on March 29, 2013.

Occasional Songs for the Periodic Table
On January 23, 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, 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.

The Broad Street Score
On January 24, 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. On May 12, 2016 Hrab reprised The Broad Street Score at the Fashion Institute of Technology’s, Katie Murphy Amphitheater as part of the annual NECSS conference with accompaniment by The Bow Sonic Strings. The show will make its international debut on August 24, 2016 in Turku, Finland.

Personnel - Bethlehem, PA
 * George Hrab - music, lyrics, vocal, guitar
 * Karen Banos - violin
 * Petula Perdikis - violin
 * Ruth Frazier - viola
 * Elyssa Gilmar - cello
 * Todd Dietrich - narrator

Personnel - New York, NY
 * George Hrab - music, lyrics, vocal, guitar
 * Roxanne Bergman - violin
 * Gabriel Schaff - violin
 * Sally Schumway - viola
 * Lanny Paykin - cello
 * Hai-Ting Chinn - narrator

Personnel - Turku, Finland
 * George Hrab - music, lyrics, vocal, guitar
 * Reetta-Liina Säilä - violin
 * Veikko Rihu - violin
 * Anna Pohjola - viola
 * Elina Jaanu - cello
 * Riku Kanninen - narrator

Podcasting
After being featured on the podcast Skepticality Hrab was invited by its hosts to DragonCon 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.

Around the same time (summer of 2006), Hrab hosted a weekly program called The Geologic Radio Hour on the Lehigh University radio station WLVR. 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. (a segment of one of the programs is available on Hrab's website)

Based on the experience of the radio program and the contacts made in podcasting in 2006, and encouraged by his friend and producer Slau, Hrab launched his own podcast in February 2007.

Geologic Podcast
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". New episodes of the program are posted on Thursday or Friday.

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. Hrab has also conducted interviews with musicians such as Slau and Milton Mermikides, as well as others.

As of March 2013, more than 300 episodes have been produced for the Geologic Podcast.

Segments

 * Ask George: Hrab responds to questions from listeners.
 * Captivating True Stories from The Adventures of The Philadelphia Funk Authority: Hrab tells a story from a Philadelphia Funk Authority gig.
 * Dr. Damian Handzy's Facts That'll Fuck Y'up: A Ukrainian professor (named for a friend of Hrab's) explains bizarre facts from science.
 * Geo's Mom Reads Jay-Z Lyrics: Hrab's mother reads the lyrics of Jay-Z songs and chats with Hrab.
 * Grandma's Entertainment Report: A Ukrainian grandmother reports entertainment industry news.
 * The History Chunk: Hrab recounts (and comically embellishes) notable historic events that occurred on the date of the podcast.
 * Horror-scopes: Hrab composes his own demented version of astrological horoscopes.
 * Interesting Fauna: News items about unusual animals mentioned in science news.
 * Minoishe Interroberg's To Make with the Good English: A Rabbi expounds on grammar and word usage errors.
 * Misinformed Science Podcast: A badly researched podcast about science.
 * Mortimer: Hrab speaks on the phone with a codger named Mortimer ("I'm old"), who largely ignores him and rants on.
 * Readings from notThe Bible: Hrab reads completely bastardized versions of chapters from The Bible.
 * Religious Moron of the Week: Hrab laments the excesses committed by religious believers in the news.
 * Rupert McClanahan's Indestructible Bastards: A Scottish character recounts news stories of people who simply would not die.
 * Science Minute: Hrab explains a recent scientific development.
 * So Where Are You Calling From?: Hrab's world traveling "Uncle Thaddeus" calls in and fancifully describes his current location.
 * Things People Love that Actually Suck : Hrab explains the negative aspects of sometimes inexplicably popular items, products or trends.
 * Weekly Standard: Hrab interpretation of standard songs.

Other than Hrab's mother and the interviews, nearly all the voices on the program are provided by Hrab.

Birthday Albums

 * June 8, 2010 - Birthday Concert


 * June 9, 2011 - The dark side of 40 - Cover of Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon


 * June 8, 2012 - Pink Floyd - Animals


 * 2013 ??


 * 2014 ??


 * 90144 - On the June 12, 2015 episode of the Geologic Podcast, Hrab celebrated his 44th birthday by covering Yes' album 90125 in its entirety. The name 90144 is a reference to Hrab's 44th birthday.


 * Birthday Windows - On June 9, 2016, episode 465 was Hrab's re-interprited version of Rush's Power Windows

Other podcasts
Hrab has performed on or has been interviewed by a number of other podcasts, including The Good Atheist, Skepticality, The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe, Slacker Astronomy, Sessions with Slau, The Rabbit Zone, The Nonsense Podcast, The Skeptic Zone, Point of Inquiry, Inquiry FM, Artist Connection Podcast, The Pseudo Scientists, Maynard's Malaise,  Cognitive Dissonance, The Story Collider, and InKredulous.

Hrab also wrote & recorded the theme song for the 365 Days of Astronomy podcast, FAR. He created and performed in the associated music video.

TEDx Talk
Hrab's TEDx Talk at TEDxLehighRiver September 19, 2015 was titled "Rethinking Doubt'': The Value and Achievements of Skepticism."

Conferences



 * TAM 6 - June 19–22, 2008
 * TAM 7 - July 9–12, 2009
 * TAM London - Oct 3-4, 2009
 * TAM Australia 2010 - November 26–28, 2010

Reason Rally 2016
On June 4, 2016, Hrab served as emcee of the Reason Rally in Washington, DC. 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.

Awards

 * Won: Gold Award & Best in Show Print (Sheer Brick Studio for "Interrobang"), 2006 Greater Lehigh Valley ADDY Awards
 * Nominated: Best Audio Production (Geologic Podcast), 2007 Parsec Awards
 * Won: Best Comedy Podcast (Geologic Podcast), Podcast Peer Awards 5 (Fall 2008)
 * Won: Best All Around Performer (tie), 2008 Lehigh Valley Music Awards
 * Won: Best Wedding Music (The Philadelphia Funk Authority), 2010 Best of the Philly Hot List.
 * Won: Gold Award (Sheer Brick Studio for "Trebuchet"), 2011 Greater Lehigh Valley ADDY Awards
 * Won: Best Wedding Music (The Philadelphia Funk Authority), 2011 Best of the Philly Hot List.

Philly Funk Awards

 * 2010 Pick - The Knot Best of Weddings
 * 2011 Pick - The Knot Best of Weddings
 * 2012 Pick - The Knot Best of Weddings
 * 2013 Pick - The Knot Best of Weddings
 * 2014 Pick - The Knot Best of Weddings
 * 2015 Pick - The Knot Best of Weddings


 * The Knot Hall of Fame


 * 2011 - Wedding Wire - Bride's Choice Awards
 * 2012 - Wedding Wire - Bride's Choice Awards
 * 2013 - Wedding Wire - Bride's Choice Awards
 * 2014 - Wedding Wire - Couples' Choice Awards
 * 2015 - Wedding Wire - Couples' Choice Awards
 * 2016 - Wedding Wire - Couples' Choice Awards


 * 2012 Winner - Philly Hot List - Best Music


 * 2013 - New Jersey Bride - Love It
 * 2014 - New Jersey Bride - Love It


 * 2016 Winner - Philly Happening List

Controversy
After the release of Hrab's self-published first album [sic], he was sued for invasion of privacy by a former supervisor from his job at Moravian College. She claimed that a short phrase written in Cyrillic script in the liner notes as well as one short 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 a small amount of damages, and [sic] was removed from distribution.

Later, Hrab documented the entire affair (including re-enacting all of the testimony at trial) on his podcast. In 2007 the album was re-released with the offending material removed.

Personal life
Hrab is of Ukrainian Catholic descent and was born in New Jersey. Hrab is a 1989 graduate of Montclair Kimberly Academy. His father (also named George Hrab) is a musician who has performed in a band called Tempo since 1959. Hrab has lived in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania since attending Moravian College where he received a Bachelor of Music in 1993. In the summer of 2011, Hrab revealed on his podcast that he is allergic to penicillin.

[sic]
℗ 1996/2006 Geologic Records, © 1996/2006 You Call That Music

All music written, performed and produced by George Hrab

Personnel
 * George Hrab - songwriter, vocals, music, production, mixing, 2006 remastering, 2006 album design
 * Slau Halatyn - engineering, mixing, 2006 remastering
 * Stephen Primatic - mixing
 * Donna Mugavero - 2006 album design

Minutiæ
℗ 1999 Geologic Records, © 1999 You Call That Music

All music written, performed and produced by George Hrab

Personnel
 * George Hrab - songwriter, vocals, music, production, mixing
 * Slau Halatyn - recording, engineering, mixing
 * Roman Hrab - album art
 * Donna Mugavero - album design
 * Angelo Caggiano - color photography
 * Chris Friedenberg - black and white photography

Vitriol
℗ 2001 Geologic Records, © 2001 You Call That Music

Coelacanth
℗ 2004 Geologic Records, © 2004 You Call That Music

Written and produced by George Hrab

Personnel
 * George Hrab - songwriter, arrangement, vocals, drums, bass, guitars, gong, sniffs, tambourine, shaker, clavinet, pair skate only organ, stupidly huge rock organ, marimba, vibes, xylophone, production, mixing
 * Slau Halatyn - engineering, arrangement, organ, piano
 * Andy Kowall - arrangement, trumpet, clasps and vocal silliness
 * Dave Painchaud - trumpet, clasps and vocal silliness
 * Larry Ogden - saxophone, affirmative commentary, clasps and vocal silliness
 * Dale Gerheart - trombone, clasps and vocal silliness
 * Orlando Wells - violin
 * Philip Payton - violin
 * Jeffrey Ellenberger - viola
 * David Gotay - cello

Interrobang
℗ 2006 Geologic Records, © 2006 You Call That Music All music written, performed and produced by George Hrab

Personnel
 * George Hrab - songwriter, vocals, music, production
 * Slau Halatyn - engineering
 * Donna Mugavero - design

Trebuchet
℗ 2010 Geologic Records, © 2010 You Call That Music All music written, performed and produced by George Hrab

Personnel
 * George Hrab - songwriter, vocals, music, production, horns and Slau photos
 * Slau Halatyn - recording, engineering, vocal arrangement for "God Is Not Great"
 * Donna Mugavero - design
 * Phil Plait - lyrics on "Death From The Skies"
 * Stephen Primatic - big band arrangement on "Happy Birthday, Baby", 21 groove on "One Hypnopompic Jerk"
 * Milton Mermikides - cello on "Small Comfort"
 * John Sterling Ruth - photography
 * Tim Farley - museum photo
 * Kiera Wilhelm - drumming, blue leap photos
 * Chris Friedenberg - Oscar photo

21812
©℗ 2013 Geologic Records

Personnel
 * George Hrab - guitar, piano, drums, vocals, maniacal direction, producer
 * BJ Kramer - executive producer
 * Eric Kenlin - drums, vocals
 * Vinnie Puccio - electric & upright bass
 * Ross Brown - percussion, vocals
 * Andy Kowal - trumpet, flugelhorn
 * Dave Painchaud - trumpet
 * Steve Bridges - tenor saxophone, alto saxophone, flute
 * Neil Wetzel - baritone saxophone, tenor saxophone, flute
 * Dale Gerheart - trombone
 * Alisa B. Anderson - guest vocals
 * Jilian Rhys McCoy - guest vocals
 * Phil Plait - guest vocals
 * Myra Hrab - guest vocals

With others

 * Ika (1995) – Ika
 * Lullaby (1998) – Eric Mintel Quartet
 * The Weight of Words (2001) – Slau
 * What if Every Day Were Christmas (2006) – Podsafe for peace