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SYFY WIRE Bad Astronomy

21812

By Phil Plait
BadAstronomyHero

[Oh my. I wrote this back in February, and could've sworn I posted it! But I just found it in my drafts list, and sure enough it never went live. My apologies to Geo and everyone else from the concert! But my feelings expressed here have not dimmed one iota since that weekend in February.]

Last weekend I was in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania to be a part of my friend George Hrab's concert he called 21812: A Gneiss Night Out. The number was an homage to the date (February 18, 2012) and the name, well, he does the Geologic Podcast, so you figure it out.

Geo is a dear friend, but he's more than that. He's one of the smartest, cleverest, nicest, and most generous guys I know. We've been friends for a while now, but I see him all too rarely. So when he invited mt to not just attend his concert but also be a part of it... well. That was an easy decision.

The concert was awesome. Geo wrote all the songs, and most came from his latest album, Trebuchet (which I've written about many times before). One of the tracks on that album is "Death from the Skies", based on a brilliant book by the same name. The song is way cool; while Geo plays the music, I do a voiceover reciting the odds of getting killed by various astronomical events. We've performed the song a few times live, too.

While I was there, we got together at Geo's place. Now you have to realize, the cover art for Trebuchet was a picture of a wall in Geo's apartment, which he covered in the song titles and lyrics. It was an amzing effort (you can watch a time lapse of him constructing it) and the results are amazing. I was so chuffed to be there that I got a picture of the two of us posing in front of it:

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It was so great to see so many old friends, if only for a short time. My deepest and most honored thanks to Geo, Donna, and especially to all the fans who came to the concert. It as so great to meet so many of you and get a chance to chat.

And one last thing: the concert was recorded, and Geo will be making a DVD from it. That'll be a while, no doubt, but also have no doubt I will be shilling it here. And after being there live when it was filmed, I also have no doubt you'll want one.


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