The Singing Weatherman
As someone who started his blog in 2021, I tend to run a little bit behind the cultural curve. However, something happened on June 7 (6-7) of this year that might have me, if not ahead, at least in step with 2025’s pop culture phenomenon. What has happened in the past six months also hearkens […]
It seems that the Summer 2025 tour (“Stormin’ Bob’s Rockin’ Rainbow”) is barely in the rear-view mirror, and I’m already thinking about Summer 2026. Part of the reason is because I’m a member of the MAC (Mississippi Arts Commission) artist roster. As such, organizations (such as libraries) who want to book me can get up […]
If all my luck ran out tomorrowI do believe that I have had my share — John Gorka, Gravyland I’m a lucky guy, no doubt in my mind. I live with some creative, cool folks that I am happy to call my family. We had a blast on Saturday morning playing music together at the […]
One of the fun creative challenges in planning my summer tours is to try to make my show match the theme for each year’s Summer Reading Program (SRP) theme. This year’s theme has been “Color Our World” so my show (“Stormin’ Bob’s Rockin’ Rainbow”) has focused on light/optics/human vision. In addition to some new demos […]
I’m nearing the end of my Summer Tour for 2025. While my Stormin’ Bob persona originated in 2000 when I was doing television weather (KHBS-KHOG 40/29 in Fort Smith, AR), my summer touring has been a more recent development — I’ve toured most summers (except when COVID shut things down) each year since 2018. I […]
Audio version of the post [Note – I wrote this post 8 years ago, and it was published on the “Street Epistemology” blog. Admittedly, it is a bit far afield from my typical topics, but the ability to have cordial and productive conversations with others about sensitive topics is needed now more than ever. Thank […]
In a recent blog post, I referenced the Frostbite 5K, a race I’ll be running in less than two weeks. Yesterday, after a training run, I was stretching my old body out and asked my son, Henry, to take a picture of me. I just so happened to be stretching close to a picture of […]
If you catch me this summer, you will likely hear a new sound in the musical mix. My middle son, Nate, is a percussionist and plays chimes (vibraphone, xylophone, glockenspiel) with Starkville High School’s marching band as well as Starkville Indoor Percussion (SIP). He is also the drummer for our family band, “Henry and the […]
I have always loved to sing so I suppose my voice was my first musical instrument. But, other than two years of playing trumpet in 5th and 6th grades, I didn’t pick up an instrument until after college. Because of my relatively-late start, I always encourage kids in my audiences to pick up an instrument […]
When I’m not singing about science in the summer, I’m teaching science at Mississippi State University. Just a few weeks ago I was wrapping up a conceptual chemistry unit with my Physical Science Survey II students by talking about water treatment and water purification. Since I like to pepper in personal stories in my teaching, […]