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My Youth on Record Podcast


I have been inactive on my personal blog for way too long! Just so much going on professionally, personally, that it has been hard to prioritize this blog. Hoping to be better going forward, perhaps inspired by this crazy pandemic time we are in.

This is a blog post I started working on quite a while ago. Last year I had the pleasure of participating in the My Youth on Record podcast series. Youth on Record is a wonderful Denver organization that engages local working musicians to work as teaching artists in local public schools, the goal being to engage youth that would otherwise be in danger of dropping out. They also put on an annual community Block Party that would be happening very soon, and obviously can't happen this year, which is why it may be on my mind. This event has become a tradition with me and my daughter Esme - one year she even got to go up on stage with me as I made some remarks. It is a wonderful, inclusive, family-friendly celebration for the community.

YOR and its programs also provide employment for indie musicians. And their facility - housed in a Denver Housing Authority mixed-income development, also houses robust after-school programs, including a state of the art recording "Youth Media Studio." A couple of years ago they launched a podcast series - with support in part from Bonfils-Stanton Foundation, called My Youth on Record, with Shawn King from Devotchka as host and Stephen Brackett from the Flobots also involved. The series, however, is almost entirely engineered and produced by the youth involved in the program, giving them fantastic real world experience. The theme of the series is getting successful musicians to talk about their early musical influences, the first song they wrote, the first time they performed, etc. In my case, they wanted to talk about what influenced me to go into the world of producing, enabling, and funding the arts, and especially my love for music. It was great fun to do it, and really inspiring to work with and be interviewed by these immensely talented young people.

In recent weeks, YOR has pivoted to do a series called My Youth on Record - Interrupted, talking
with musicians about how their personal, professional and creative lives have been transformed by the coronavirus.

You can check out my podcast episode here "On puce uniforms, the arts & NYC as a teen" You may even learn what was the first concert I ever attended...

With YOR Executive Director Jami Duffy, Stephen Brackett and some of the MYOR team



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