The Physics Chanteuse: when science hits a high note

1
00:00:01,760 --> 00:00:03,919
Hello, and welcome to the Physics World Stories

2
00:00:03,919 --> 00:00:06,419
podcast. I'm Andre Glesser, and in this episode,

3
00:00:06,559 --> 00:00:07,779
we're gonna be exploring

4
00:00:08,080 --> 00:00:08,820
the intersection

5
00:00:09,119 --> 00:00:12,000
between physics and music, or at least we're

6
00:00:12,000 --> 00:00:14,535
gonna be listening to some physics based songs

7
00:00:14,535 --> 00:00:16,635
in the company of Linda Williams.

8
00:00:17,015 --> 00:00:19,175
Having performed for the likes of Kip Thorne

9
00:00:19,175 --> 00:00:21,894
and Stephen Hawking, Linda finds herself about to

10
00:00:21,894 --> 00:00:24,074
embark on a tour which begins

11
00:00:24,454 --> 00:00:24,954
performing

12
00:00:25,494 --> 00:00:26,554
a song about

13
00:00:26,935 --> 00:00:28,154
and in front of

14
00:00:28,609 --> 00:00:30,630
Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell.

15
00:00:31,089 --> 00:00:33,030
We'll hear about that later in the podcast,

16
00:00:33,409 --> 00:00:35,909
but let's begin with one of her songs.

17
00:00:49,774 --> 00:00:51,954
The curl of the Faraday's law.

18
00:00:52,894 --> 00:00:54,835
Now the trick is to use the vector

19
00:00:54,894 --> 00:00:57,289
ID for the curl, I'll curl.

20
00:00:58,390 --> 00:01:01,530
And then you'll see that everything simplifies,

21
00:01:02,310 --> 00:01:04,870
because Gauss's law tells us that del dot

22
00:01:04,870 --> 00:01:05,849
E is zero,

23
00:01:06,870 --> 00:01:08,409
and Ampere's law

24
00:01:09,109 --> 00:01:10,784
simplifies the other side.

25
00:01:17,745 --> 00:01:19,924
Aloha. My name is Linda Williams,

26
00:01:20,225 --> 00:01:22,325
and I'm the physics chanthus.

27
00:01:23,265 --> 00:01:24,085
I produce,

28
00:01:25,025 --> 00:01:25,525
original

29
00:01:26,040 --> 00:01:27,579
science cabaret for

30
00:01:28,359 --> 00:01:28,859
scientists

31
00:01:29,240 --> 00:01:30,540
and the general public.

32
00:01:31,079 --> 00:01:33,640
My background is I'm a physicist, and I

33
00:01:33,640 --> 00:01:35,659
have over twenty years teaching

34
00:01:35,960 --> 00:01:37,980
as a tenured college professor.

35
00:01:38,600 --> 00:01:40,840
But now I'm retired from that, and I'm

36
00:01:40,840 --> 00:01:41,295
just

37
00:01:41,775 --> 00:01:43,614
getting my act together and taking it on

38
00:01:43,614 --> 00:01:44,194
the road.

39
00:01:54,629 --> 00:01:56,329
And cooled the particle

40
00:01:56,870 --> 00:01:58,890
zoo was born in the goo.

41
00:01:59,349 --> 00:01:59,849
Photons,

42
00:02:00,229 --> 00:02:00,729
bosons,

43
00:02:01,030 --> 00:02:01,530
gravitons,

44
00:02:01,909 --> 00:02:02,409
leptons,

45
00:02:02,709 --> 00:02:03,769
energy, radiation.

46
00:02:04,709 --> 00:02:08,235
Science cabaret or physics cabaret or cosmic cabaret

47
00:02:08,395 --> 00:02:11,215
or atomic cabaret or algebra cabaret

48
00:02:11,995 --> 00:02:14,175
is just a form of,

49
00:02:14,955 --> 00:02:16,414
musical theater performance

50
00:02:17,115 --> 00:02:18,974
where the topics are whatever

51
00:02:19,675 --> 00:02:21,860
issue you want. Right now, I'm doing a

52
00:02:21,860 --> 00:02:24,739
new show called Atomic Cabaret, which is all

53
00:02:24,739 --> 00:02:27,539
about the nuclear world we live in, and

54
00:02:27,539 --> 00:02:28,280
it commemorates

55
00:02:28,900 --> 00:02:30,120
the eightieth anniversary

56
00:02:30,419 --> 00:02:33,239
of the US bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

57
00:02:33,459 --> 00:02:34,120
this year.

58
00:02:34,935 --> 00:02:35,435
And,

59
00:02:36,294 --> 00:02:37,275
I've also done

60
00:02:37,655 --> 00:02:40,134
algebra cabaret, which is a cabaret all about

61
00:02:40,134 --> 00:02:43,415
math. So it's essentially songs and repartee, and,

62
00:02:43,415 --> 00:02:45,574
usually, I'm a solo act, but sometimes I'll

63
00:02:45,574 --> 00:02:46,875
bring in other performers.

64
00:02:48,280 --> 00:02:50,299
And, yeah, so it's science themed,

65
00:02:51,560 --> 00:02:53,019
theater, musical theater

66
00:02:53,400 --> 00:02:56,120
in a cabaret genre. Because you're about to

67
00:02:56,120 --> 00:02:57,019
go on tour.

68
00:02:57,400 --> 00:02:59,959
Yes. So I'm about to embark on a

69
00:02:59,959 --> 00:03:02,939
journey to The UK. I'm going on tour.

70
00:03:03,235 --> 00:03:05,715
It's been a bucket list of mine to

71
00:03:05,715 --> 00:03:06,935
perform at the Edinburgh

72
00:03:07,314 --> 00:03:09,634
Fringe Festival, which I'll be doing this year.

73
00:03:09,634 --> 00:03:12,134
But my first stop is in Belfast

74
00:03:12,594 --> 00:03:13,655
at the International

75
00:03:13,955 --> 00:03:14,455
Symposium

76
00:03:15,314 --> 00:03:16,935
on Astronomy and Culture.

77
00:03:17,810 --> 00:03:18,949
It's called INSAAP,

78
00:03:19,409 --> 00:03:19,909
and,

79
00:03:20,370 --> 00:03:21,509
it's a fantastic

80
00:03:21,969 --> 00:03:22,469
conference

81
00:03:23,250 --> 00:03:25,270
of, artists and astronomers

82
00:03:25,969 --> 00:03:26,949
and archaeologists

83
00:03:27,810 --> 00:03:29,430
and folks who are into

84
00:03:30,894 --> 00:03:32,754
ancient astronomy, archaeoastronomy,

85
00:03:33,375 --> 00:03:35,875
and just all coming together and seeing how,

86
00:03:36,894 --> 00:03:39,614
astronomy influences art and culture. So I'm going

87
00:03:39,614 --> 00:03:41,314
to be doing the banquet,

88
00:03:42,574 --> 00:03:44,034
show at the Belfast

89
00:03:44,334 --> 00:03:44,834
Castle,

90
00:03:45,979 --> 00:03:48,959
on June 12. Amazing. So Edinburgh Fringe,

91
00:03:49,579 --> 00:03:51,500
I can kinda see that. I can see

92
00:03:51,500 --> 00:03:53,500
you performing there. That that's gonna go very

93
00:03:53,500 --> 00:03:54,400
well, I think.

94
00:03:54,699 --> 00:03:56,379
I hope so. Yeah. Yeah.

95
00:03:56,699 --> 00:03:58,400
I what what did you teach? Physics?

96
00:03:59,115 --> 00:04:00,414
I taught at a,

97
00:04:01,034 --> 00:04:02,414
college in California

98
00:04:02,715 --> 00:04:03,215
at

99
00:04:03,514 --> 00:04:05,615
at Santa Rosa Community College,

100
00:04:06,155 --> 00:04:07,134
junior college

101
00:04:07,675 --> 00:04:09,914
for twenty years. So I essentially taught all

102
00:04:09,914 --> 00:04:11,134
of the lower division

103
00:04:11,675 --> 00:04:12,175
courses,

104
00:04:13,080 --> 00:04:15,800
calculus based, algebra based. I also taught some

105
00:04:15,800 --> 00:04:16,300
astronomy.

106
00:04:18,199 --> 00:04:20,040
And, yeah, I did that for twenty years.

107
00:04:20,040 --> 00:04:22,839
And during COVID, I moved to Hawaii and

108
00:04:22,839 --> 00:04:23,980
was teaching remotely.

109
00:04:24,360 --> 00:04:26,645
And when they said, we're gonna go back

110
00:04:26,645 --> 00:04:29,365
face to face, I said, aloha. I'm I'm

111
00:04:29,365 --> 00:04:29,865
staying.

112
00:04:30,404 --> 00:04:33,464
And, I ended up working at the Gemini

113
00:04:33,605 --> 00:04:36,324
Observatory on Mauna Kea as a tour guide

114
00:04:36,324 --> 00:04:37,464
for a couple years.

115
00:04:38,324 --> 00:04:40,839
And then now I just decided to go

116
00:04:40,839 --> 00:04:43,000
on tour while I still can sing and

117
00:04:43,000 --> 00:04:43,500
dance.

118
00:04:44,199 --> 00:04:47,259
Did your students know about your alter ego?

119
00:04:47,879 --> 00:04:49,800
No. I mean, I I was performing long

120
00:04:49,800 --> 00:04:51,180
before I got into physics.

121
00:04:51,480 --> 00:04:53,144
So I was performing first,

122
00:04:53,625 --> 00:04:55,785
And then, you know, I was auditioning and

123
00:04:55,785 --> 00:04:57,625
trying to get into the business in Los

124
00:04:57,625 --> 00:04:59,785
Angeles, and I was just bored. And I'm

125
00:04:59,944 --> 00:05:01,964
I said, I'm gonna write my own shows.

126
00:05:02,185 --> 00:05:03,865
So I went to college. I never thought

127
00:05:03,865 --> 00:05:05,625
I'd go to college. And I went to

128
00:05:05,625 --> 00:05:06,125
college,

129
00:05:06,740 --> 00:05:07,240
And,

130
00:05:08,180 --> 00:05:10,979
I just realized, like, I needed to find

131
00:05:10,979 --> 00:05:12,680
something I was interested in,

132
00:05:13,060 --> 00:05:14,759
and I ended up

133
00:05:15,699 --> 00:05:18,644
falling in love with astronomy and physics. And,

134
00:05:18,805 --> 00:05:20,564
I mean, people thought I'd be a, you

135
00:05:20,564 --> 00:05:22,485
know, like a stripper in Vegas. No one

136
00:05:22,485 --> 00:05:24,564
thought I'd end up going into physics, and

137
00:05:24,564 --> 00:05:26,345
it turned out I was good at it.

138
00:05:26,564 --> 00:05:29,604
So then, naturally, I just started, you know,

139
00:05:29,604 --> 00:05:32,089
creating work about it and performing. Because, you

140
00:05:32,089 --> 00:05:34,009
know, as soon as I've learned about the

141
00:05:34,009 --> 00:05:36,009
Particle Zoo, I was like, oh my god.

142
00:05:36,009 --> 00:05:38,089
You could totally sing about corks. You could

143
00:05:38,089 --> 00:05:40,250
sing about the Big Bang. Everything is so

144
00:05:40,250 --> 00:05:40,750
singable,

145
00:05:41,850 --> 00:05:43,930
and it's fascinating, and I love it all.

146
00:05:43,930 --> 00:05:47,145
And so I just naturally put it to

147
00:05:47,145 --> 00:05:49,485
music and theater, and I've been doing it

148
00:05:49,785 --> 00:05:50,685
for a long time.

149
00:05:51,625 --> 00:05:53,324
I grew up in the eighties,

150
00:05:54,105 --> 00:05:57,145
during the, you know, super high threat of

151
00:05:57,145 --> 00:06:00,685
nuclear Armageddon, and I became an antinuclear activist.

152
00:06:01,410 --> 00:06:03,810
And so it was through that, actually, and

153
00:06:03,810 --> 00:06:05,970
I I just I remember picking up a

154
00:06:05,970 --> 00:06:07,910
Scientific American, and I couldn't

155
00:06:08,370 --> 00:06:10,769
understand it. And I thought, what? I am

156
00:06:10,769 --> 00:06:11,670
missing something.

157
00:06:12,290 --> 00:06:14,654
So I went to the library, and I

158
00:06:14,894 --> 00:06:16,735
I just started reading. I mean, I picked

159
00:06:16,735 --> 00:06:17,714
out books like,

160
00:06:18,175 --> 00:06:18,834
you know,

161
00:06:19,535 --> 00:06:22,495
Kant's Progolema to any future metaphysics. Like, I'm

162
00:06:22,495 --> 00:06:24,095
just pulling stuff, and I'm like, I can't

163
00:06:24,095 --> 00:06:26,415
comprehend this. And so then I said, well,

164
00:06:26,415 --> 00:06:28,580
I'm gonna go study physics and math. And

165
00:06:28,580 --> 00:06:29,240
I literally

166
00:06:30,100 --> 00:06:32,500
taught myself trigonometry over the summer and started

167
00:06:32,500 --> 00:06:34,839
taking calculus, and I was good at it.

168
00:06:34,980 --> 00:06:37,460
It's like I'm a savant of some form.

169
00:06:37,460 --> 00:06:38,120
You know?

170
00:06:38,420 --> 00:06:41,240
Like, an idiot savant, a bim smart bimbo.

171
00:06:41,620 --> 00:06:41,939
But,

172
00:06:42,714 --> 00:06:45,035
yeah. So before that, like, in high school,

173
00:06:45,035 --> 00:06:47,354
I was doing shows. I was performing. I

174
00:06:47,354 --> 00:06:49,595
would you know, I've always been singing and

175
00:06:49,595 --> 00:06:50,095
dancing.

176
00:06:50,555 --> 00:06:53,854
So then I just naturally started doing shows

177
00:06:54,475 --> 00:06:56,495
about physics. And my first show

178
00:06:56,839 --> 00:06:58,680
was when I was in grad school. It

179
00:06:58,680 --> 00:07:01,079
was called Cosmic Cabaret, and it was all

180
00:07:01,079 --> 00:07:02,919
about the big bang and the evolution of

181
00:07:02,919 --> 00:07:03,579
the universe.

182
00:07:04,039 --> 00:07:06,759
And I always have, you know, environmental and

183
00:07:06,759 --> 00:07:09,740
social justice issues woven in

184
00:07:10,095 --> 00:07:11,935
to it all, you know, to kind of

185
00:07:11,935 --> 00:07:14,254
complement my activism with my,

186
00:07:14,654 --> 00:07:16,035
love for science and

187
00:07:16,415 --> 00:07:16,894
and,

188
00:07:17,375 --> 00:07:18,754
astronomy. And so,

189
00:07:19,774 --> 00:07:21,855
how the Physics Chantouse was born. So I

190
00:07:21,855 --> 00:07:23,555
was doing shows for years

191
00:07:23,960 --> 00:07:26,540
that always had sort of a combination

192
00:07:26,840 --> 00:07:30,439
of science fiction, science fantasy, science kinda melded

193
00:07:30,439 --> 00:07:32,540
together with musical theater and comedy.

194
00:07:33,080 --> 00:07:35,080
And then when I I went to my

195
00:07:35,080 --> 00:07:36,915
first conference, the American Physics

196
00:07:37,475 --> 00:07:39,955
Society, APS conference, and I was sitting in

197
00:07:39,955 --> 00:07:40,615
the banquet,

198
00:07:41,074 --> 00:07:42,915
and what they had on stage was so

199
00:07:42,915 --> 00:07:45,254
boring. I wrote down on my

200
00:07:45,795 --> 00:07:48,355
cocktail napkin the physics chanteuse, and I said

201
00:07:48,355 --> 00:07:48,990
to myself,

202
00:07:49,949 --> 00:07:52,269
I'm gonna do shows for scientists. Because one

203
00:07:52,269 --> 00:07:54,269
of the one of the problems about doing

204
00:07:54,269 --> 00:07:55,810
science theater is exposition.

205
00:07:56,269 --> 00:07:57,889
So if you're gonna make a joke

206
00:07:58,269 --> 00:08:00,110
about the big bang or you're gonna make

207
00:08:00,110 --> 00:08:02,349
a joke about physics, you have to explain

208
00:08:02,349 --> 00:08:04,110
it to your audience. And when you have

209
00:08:04,110 --> 00:08:05,264
an scientifically

210
00:08:06,044 --> 00:08:08,845
illiterate or not very literate audience, you have

211
00:08:08,845 --> 00:08:10,524
to do a lot of explaining before you

212
00:08:10,524 --> 00:08:12,285
can get to the punch line. So I

213
00:08:12,285 --> 00:08:14,625
remember just thinking, like, I can

214
00:08:15,004 --> 00:08:18,224
do shows for scientists with no exposition

215
00:08:18,524 --> 00:08:19,024
whatsoever.

216
00:08:19,669 --> 00:08:21,589
And that's how the Physics Chanties was born.

217
00:08:21,589 --> 00:08:23,910
I just started you know, the first show

218
00:08:23,910 --> 00:08:26,569
I did was for a solid state conference,

219
00:08:26,629 --> 00:08:29,029
and I, you know, I just researched the

220
00:08:29,029 --> 00:08:31,850
material and, you know, talked to the organizers

221
00:08:32,149 --> 00:08:34,705
and see who's in the audience and write

222
00:08:34,705 --> 00:08:36,544
a song for somebody and and, you know,

223
00:08:36,544 --> 00:08:38,065
working on and I'm a had people come

224
00:08:38,065 --> 00:08:40,065
up and say, I can't believe you put

225
00:08:40,065 --> 00:08:41,825
my research in your song. Like, only five

226
00:08:41,825 --> 00:08:43,424
people in the world know about that. You

227
00:08:43,424 --> 00:08:45,745
know? It's just it's just so much fun.

228
00:08:45,745 --> 00:08:47,985
You know? So my although I do write

229
00:08:47,985 --> 00:08:50,290
songs for the general public and kids and

230
00:08:50,290 --> 00:08:53,169
up with science stuff, I I really love

231
00:08:53,169 --> 00:08:53,669
writing

232
00:08:54,129 --> 00:08:55,590
songs that are scientifically

233
00:08:55,970 --> 00:08:58,850
accurate for a scientific audience. And I think

234
00:08:58,850 --> 00:09:01,590
that's what's unique about my show because there's

235
00:09:01,715 --> 00:09:03,955
plenty of people doing science theater for a

236
00:09:03,955 --> 00:09:04,934
general audience.

237
00:09:06,434 --> 00:09:09,554
But doing it just for scientists is just

238
00:09:09,554 --> 00:09:11,554
a whole another level, and I just love

239
00:09:11,554 --> 00:09:13,634
it, which brings me to what I'm doing

240
00:09:13,634 --> 00:09:15,975
at INSAAP, which is writing the song

241
00:09:16,700 --> 00:09:18,960
for Dame Jocelyn Bell Brunel,

242
00:09:20,139 --> 00:09:20,879
on Pulsars.

243
00:09:21,259 --> 00:09:23,179
You've written for a few people. You've written

244
00:09:23,179 --> 00:09:24,620
songs for a few people. We'll come to

245
00:09:24,620 --> 00:09:26,700
some of those, but Dame Jocelyn Bell Brunel

246
00:09:26,700 --> 00:09:27,100
is,

247
00:09:27,899 --> 00:09:30,139
well, I think legend is thrown around too

248
00:09:30,139 --> 00:09:32,394
much because she really is one. She's such

249
00:09:32,394 --> 00:09:33,695
an inspiration.

250
00:09:34,714 --> 00:09:37,455
Her story is she's so humble.

251
00:09:38,075 --> 00:09:40,394
She's a Quaker. You know, she's just so

252
00:09:40,394 --> 00:09:43,434
humble, and her contribution is so magnificent, and

253
00:09:43,434 --> 00:09:45,914
she's such a fighter. And as a woman

254
00:09:45,914 --> 00:09:46,654
and a feminist,

255
00:09:47,190 --> 00:09:50,070
and, you know, I'm mature older woman. So

256
00:09:50,070 --> 00:09:51,669
when I went to school, I was often

257
00:09:51,669 --> 00:09:53,210
the only woman in class.

258
00:09:54,470 --> 00:09:55,610
But, you know, she

259
00:09:55,990 --> 00:09:58,649
she stuck to her guns. Right? Her her,

260
00:09:59,509 --> 00:10:02,455
thesis adviser who won the Nobel Prize, you

261
00:10:02,455 --> 00:10:04,554
know, he used to call her stupid.

262
00:10:05,174 --> 00:10:06,695
So I didn't put any of that in

263
00:10:06,695 --> 00:10:09,095
the song I wrote. I just honored her

264
00:10:09,095 --> 00:10:09,595
discovery

265
00:10:09,975 --> 00:10:11,754
and, you know, not

266
00:10:12,615 --> 00:10:13,595
complain about,

267
00:10:14,455 --> 00:10:16,455
her not getting the Nobel Prize. Although I

268
00:10:16,455 --> 00:10:18,590
mentioned it, but even she says, well, I'm

269
00:10:18,590 --> 00:10:20,210
just thrilled that they thought

270
00:10:20,750 --> 00:10:23,629
my little pulsating star was worthy of, you

271
00:10:23,629 --> 00:10:25,009
know, a Nobel Prize.

272
00:10:25,550 --> 00:10:27,250
She's so humble. It's incredible.

273
00:10:28,029 --> 00:10:31,230
So, yeah, I'm thrilled to hear. Where does

274
00:10:31,230 --> 00:10:33,764
the the creative process start? Is it with

275
00:10:33,764 --> 00:10:35,845
the words? Is it with the melody? Usually,

276
00:10:35,845 --> 00:10:38,164
when it's for a scientist like this, it's

277
00:10:38,164 --> 00:10:40,404
the words. It's the research. So I have

278
00:10:40,404 --> 00:10:40,904
to,

279
00:10:41,764 --> 00:10:44,690
I watched her give talks for this, honestly,

280
00:10:44,750 --> 00:10:46,669
and I would say that 90% of this

281
00:10:46,669 --> 00:10:47,809
song is her words.

282
00:10:49,549 --> 00:10:50,690
Jocelyn Bell

283
00:10:51,149 --> 00:10:52,049
was a PhD

284
00:10:52,509 --> 00:10:53,330
grad student

285
00:10:53,710 --> 00:10:54,210
studying

286
00:10:54,590 --> 00:10:55,090
astronomy

287
00:10:56,830 --> 00:10:57,580
at Cambridge

288
00:10:57,945 --> 00:10:59,245
in '67.

289
00:10:59,705 --> 00:11:01,325
She was looking for quasars,

290
00:11:01,865 --> 00:11:03,165
ressinging the planetary

291
00:11:03,705 --> 00:11:04,205
scintillation.

292
00:11:04,985 --> 00:11:06,045
She built a radio

293
00:11:06,424 --> 00:11:08,445
telescope with over 4,000

294
00:11:08,665 --> 00:11:09,725
dipole antennas.

295
00:11:10,665 --> 00:11:12,285
Now face, face switch

296
00:11:12,665 --> 00:11:13,165
receiver

297
00:11:21,039 --> 00:11:23,200
So I mean okay. Here's what happened. She

298
00:11:23,200 --> 00:11:25,039
gave a talk, and the title of the

299
00:11:25,039 --> 00:11:25,940
talk was

300
00:11:26,639 --> 00:11:27,735
tick tick tick

301
00:11:28,134 --> 00:11:30,774
pulsating star, how we wonder what you are,

302
00:11:30,774 --> 00:11:33,254
and that's the chorus of the song. So

303
00:11:33,254 --> 00:11:35,575
I just pulled that from her talk. And

304
00:11:35,575 --> 00:11:37,575
then as I'm watching her talk, and she

305
00:11:37,575 --> 00:11:39,894
was giving the the speech that she gave

306
00:11:40,054 --> 00:11:42,214
I've watched several, but one she was giving

307
00:11:42,214 --> 00:11:44,420
at Stanford. So it was to a scientific

308
00:11:44,420 --> 00:11:44,920
audience.

309
00:11:45,620 --> 00:11:48,259
And so, you know, I'm taking notes, and

310
00:11:48,259 --> 00:11:49,860
the way I usually do is I'll take

311
00:11:49,860 --> 00:11:51,460
tons and tons of note. I love doing

312
00:11:51,460 --> 00:11:53,779
research, so I spend way too much time

313
00:11:53,779 --> 00:11:54,519
doing research

314
00:11:54,980 --> 00:11:57,794
instead of practicing the song. But, so I'll

315
00:11:57,794 --> 00:11:59,554
I'll do a lot of writing, and then

316
00:11:59,554 --> 00:12:01,794
I pair it down, and then I turn

317
00:12:01,794 --> 00:12:02,454
them into

318
00:12:02,995 --> 00:12:03,495
lines.

319
00:12:03,875 --> 00:12:05,394
And then I take the lines, and I

320
00:12:05,394 --> 00:12:07,634
put them into shorter statements, and then I

321
00:12:07,634 --> 00:12:10,320
try to rhyme them. Pass shows rough in

322
00:12:10,320 --> 00:12:11,220
the data.

323
00:12:11,840 --> 00:12:13,220
She sped up the paper

324
00:12:13,600 --> 00:12:15,379
to get a final resolution,

325
00:12:16,399 --> 00:12:19,440
and out popped out little green men every

326
00:12:19,440 --> 00:12:22,720
one point three three seven seconds. Tick, tick,

327
00:12:22,720 --> 00:12:25,085
tick, pulse, saving star. I'm

328
00:12:31,384 --> 00:12:33,144
thinking I gotta do a workshop and because

329
00:12:33,144 --> 00:12:34,764
it's the same thing I do

330
00:12:35,144 --> 00:12:38,205
for every scientific song. It's the same process.

331
00:12:38,264 --> 00:12:38,764
Research,

332
00:12:39,720 --> 00:12:40,220
writing,

333
00:12:40,519 --> 00:12:42,679
and then breaking it down into lines and

334
00:12:42,679 --> 00:12:44,839
I where I don't worry about rhyming, and

335
00:12:44,839 --> 00:12:47,179
then I'll do the rhyming scheme.

336
00:12:47,559 --> 00:12:49,899
And then I have to check for accuracy,

337
00:12:50,759 --> 00:12:52,379
which I get in trouble with.

338
00:12:52,919 --> 00:12:54,200
You know, I just have to be really

339
00:12:54,200 --> 00:12:57,845
careful because some things work better structurally,

340
00:12:58,705 --> 00:13:01,504
and then I'll find out like, I'll realize,

341
00:13:01,504 --> 00:13:03,424
like, that's wrong. That's backwards. And then I

342
00:13:03,424 --> 00:13:05,105
have to redo the whole song. I just

343
00:13:05,105 --> 00:13:06,945
had to do that with the Pulsar song.

344
00:13:06,945 --> 00:13:09,240
Actually, I Got a mistake.

345
00:13:09,620 --> 00:13:12,279
Oh, that I can't have any mistakes.

346
00:13:12,659 --> 00:13:14,100
You know? If I'm singing a song in

347
00:13:14,100 --> 00:13:16,419
front of Jocelyn Bell, the my nightmare is

348
00:13:16,419 --> 00:13:18,339
that she's gonna come up to me afterwards

349
00:13:18,339 --> 00:13:20,980
and go, oh, dear. I lovely song. It's

350
00:13:20,980 --> 00:13:22,039
just one bit.

351
00:13:22,394 --> 00:13:23,134
It's actually

352
00:13:23,435 --> 00:13:25,995
the ray is not feeding into the receiver.

353
00:13:25,995 --> 00:13:27,435
The you know, I it's it's like a

354
00:13:27,435 --> 00:13:29,355
nightmare to me is this that come up

355
00:13:29,355 --> 00:13:31,774
and and and have to do a correction.

356
00:13:32,235 --> 00:13:34,634
You know? Listen there. So has anybody ever

357
00:13:34,634 --> 00:13:35,995
done that to you? Have you ever had

358
00:13:35,995 --> 00:13:37,990
that nightmare happen? Well, I just wrote a

359
00:13:37,990 --> 00:13:39,289
song for,

360
00:13:40,950 --> 00:13:44,330
Alan Robock, the climate scientist who works in,

361
00:13:44,789 --> 00:13:47,029
nuclear winter research, and I wrote a song

362
00:13:47,029 --> 00:13:49,715
for him because he has a line that

363
00:13:49,715 --> 00:13:51,475
he said that I go, that's a that's

364
00:13:51,475 --> 00:13:53,495
a hook. And it was,

365
00:13:54,675 --> 00:13:57,975
nuclear winter is a self assured suicide. And

366
00:13:58,035 --> 00:13:59,795
and I that's the chorus of the song,

367
00:13:59,795 --> 00:14:00,615
but I say,

368
00:14:00,915 --> 00:14:03,955
nuclear winter is a self assured suicide. You

369
00:14:03,955 --> 00:14:06,250
bomb your enemy and end up killing everyone

370
00:14:06,250 --> 00:14:09,210
alive. So that's the the the chorus, which

371
00:14:09,210 --> 00:14:10,029
works great.

372
00:14:10,409 --> 00:14:12,009
But I so I finished the song, and

373
00:14:12,009 --> 00:14:13,370
I was so proud, and I sent it

374
00:14:13,370 --> 00:14:15,049
to him. And he said wrote back, and

375
00:14:15,049 --> 00:14:16,350
he goes, I love it.

376
00:14:16,649 --> 00:14:19,710
But, dear, there's a couple mistakes. You know?

377
00:14:21,245 --> 00:14:24,125
And, because I was saying it's ash instead

378
00:14:24,125 --> 00:14:25,965
of smoke, and it's really the smoke that

379
00:14:25,965 --> 00:14:27,024
goes to the stratosphere

380
00:14:28,125 --> 00:14:28,785
and produces

381
00:14:29,485 --> 00:14:31,485
the blocking of the sunlight that creates the

382
00:14:31,485 --> 00:14:33,424
nuclear winter. It's not the ash.

383
00:14:33,804 --> 00:14:33,965
So,

384
00:14:35,299 --> 00:14:37,459
but ash was easier to sing sing than

385
00:14:37,459 --> 00:14:39,620
smoke, so I have to fix it. But,

386
00:14:39,620 --> 00:14:41,459
you know, I'm grateful because I don't want

387
00:14:41,459 --> 00:14:44,579
any mistakes. It's it's a it's science. They're

388
00:14:44,579 --> 00:14:47,220
they're very factual, and I pride myself on

389
00:14:47,220 --> 00:14:48,855
making sure that they're correct.

390
00:14:49,334 --> 00:14:50,855
Do you write all the music yourself as

391
00:14:50,855 --> 00:14:52,294
well? So I do.

392
00:14:52,695 --> 00:14:55,334
I'm not really like, I don't perform live,

393
00:14:55,334 --> 00:14:56,794
but because of the,

394
00:14:57,815 --> 00:15:00,774
in the olden days, I can you know?

395
00:15:00,774 --> 00:15:02,534
And when I first started doing this, I

396
00:15:02,534 --> 00:15:03,690
would use sequencers

397
00:15:04,070 --> 00:15:05,050
and synthesizers,

398
00:15:05,430 --> 00:15:07,769
and I can strum on a guitar, but

399
00:15:07,990 --> 00:15:10,790
I'm a I'm a, I'm a loop maker.

400
00:15:10,790 --> 00:15:12,550
And now I realize I should probably be

401
00:15:12,550 --> 00:15:14,790
a DJ because that's what I love doing

402
00:15:14,790 --> 00:15:17,195
is I can, you know, just take loops

403
00:15:17,195 --> 00:15:19,034
and make songs out of loops now. Like,

404
00:15:19,034 --> 00:15:21,034
with Logic Pro, it's what I'm using right

405
00:15:21,034 --> 00:15:21,534
now.

406
00:15:22,394 --> 00:15:24,254
And I've also been experimenting

407
00:15:24,875 --> 00:15:28,014
with AI songwriting programs because

408
00:15:28,450 --> 00:15:31,589
I'm primarily a lyricist, and I've been experimenting

409
00:15:31,730 --> 00:15:35,429
with dropping lyrics into Suno is one program.

410
00:15:35,970 --> 00:15:38,209
And what they do is they make songs,

411
00:15:38,209 --> 00:15:40,049
and they'll have a singer on it. And

412
00:15:40,049 --> 00:15:41,669
I'll just listen to a thousand,

413
00:15:42,065 --> 00:15:44,464
and, and I'll I can get, like, a

414
00:15:44,464 --> 00:15:46,464
melody out of it. So that's been an

415
00:15:46,464 --> 00:15:47,365
interesting process,

416
00:15:48,544 --> 00:15:50,704
that I've done. I think I have, like

417
00:15:50,865 --> 00:15:53,345
I wrote a song called, There is No

418
00:15:53,345 --> 00:15:55,480
Planet b, Earth is all we need,

419
00:15:55,860 --> 00:15:58,100
and I'd grab the music out of Suno

420
00:15:58,100 --> 00:15:59,700
for that. And then I can pull off

421
00:15:59,700 --> 00:16:01,879
the vocals and sing on it. So that's

422
00:16:02,339 --> 00:16:03,720
an interesting process

423
00:16:04,259 --> 00:16:06,259
that gets people upset. There's a lot of

424
00:16:06,259 --> 00:16:08,440
musicians who you know, it's, like,

425
00:16:10,065 --> 00:16:12,465
unacceptable to be using AI as a tool

426
00:16:12,465 --> 00:16:13,424
like that, but,

427
00:16:14,065 --> 00:16:16,384
I'm just gonna confess and say that I

428
00:16:16,384 --> 00:16:18,865
find it a very interesting process, and it

429
00:16:18,865 --> 00:16:19,365
expediates

430
00:16:19,904 --> 00:16:21,365
the process. Now

431
00:16:21,665 --> 00:16:25,170
having said that, probably 50% of my shows

432
00:16:25,170 --> 00:16:25,830
for scientists

433
00:16:26,210 --> 00:16:28,629
are parodies. I'm the parody queen.

434
00:16:29,090 --> 00:16:31,170
So I can take you know, I do

435
00:16:31,170 --> 00:16:34,710
these medleys of parodies. So I've done medleys

436
00:16:34,850 --> 00:16:37,809
of parodies of pop songs and classic songs

437
00:16:37,809 --> 00:16:38,309
because

438
00:16:38,794 --> 00:16:41,194
that's an easy it's fun. People love it.

439
00:16:41,194 --> 00:16:44,254
They recognize the song. It's, it's clever,

440
00:16:44,714 --> 00:16:46,574
and I don't have to write the,

441
00:16:47,034 --> 00:16:47,534
music.

442
00:16:47,914 --> 00:16:49,934
So, you know, I've done medleys.

443
00:16:50,394 --> 00:16:51,914
I'm doing a medley for the,

444
00:16:52,315 --> 00:16:55,350
Insap Show of, like, songs related to,

445
00:16:56,450 --> 00:16:58,709
you know, astronomy. I've done several

446
00:16:59,169 --> 00:17:00,389
songs for

447
00:17:00,769 --> 00:17:03,809
astronomy, astrophysics, physics. Every show, I do some

448
00:17:03,809 --> 00:17:06,450
parodies. There's entertainment in here. Right? But there's

449
00:17:06,450 --> 00:17:07,910
also science communication.

450
00:17:08,444 --> 00:17:10,284
And you've talked about the, you know, you

451
00:17:10,284 --> 00:17:12,684
don't need the exposition for it. But now

452
00:17:12,684 --> 00:17:14,684
tell me all about the audience reactions from

453
00:17:14,684 --> 00:17:15,505
the sort of

454
00:17:15,884 --> 00:17:18,224
delight to the possible intrigue.

455
00:17:18,845 --> 00:17:19,345
Well,

456
00:17:19,724 --> 00:17:22,125
it's been a I've had a a full

457
00:17:22,125 --> 00:17:22,625
range.

458
00:17:23,085 --> 00:17:24,940
You know, just the first thing that comes

459
00:17:24,940 --> 00:17:26,159
to mind was I did

460
00:17:26,460 --> 00:17:27,679
a show at CERN,

461
00:17:30,139 --> 00:17:31,579
and it was for a,

462
00:17:32,380 --> 00:17:35,119
summer school of science teachers from all over

463
00:17:35,419 --> 00:17:38,059
Eastern Block country. So this was, like, in

464
00:17:38,059 --> 00:17:40,644
February or something. And so there was, you

465
00:17:40,644 --> 00:17:42,505
know, all these teachers,

466
00:17:42,964 --> 00:17:44,424
and they were all drunk,

467
00:17:45,285 --> 00:17:47,525
and the power went out. So here I

468
00:17:47,525 --> 00:17:49,384
am in the most, you know, sophisticated,

469
00:17:50,964 --> 00:17:53,440
physics facility in the world in in the

470
00:17:53,440 --> 00:17:55,920
electricity. So I'm singing acapella because the show

471
00:17:55,920 --> 00:17:58,880
must go on. And the they all start

472
00:17:58,880 --> 00:18:00,500
singing their country songs,

473
00:18:01,840 --> 00:18:03,600
and then they storm the stage and steal

474
00:18:03,600 --> 00:18:04,500
all my stuff.

475
00:18:05,440 --> 00:18:07,140
That was, like, the worst experience.

476
00:18:07,785 --> 00:18:10,045
I have a lot of sing along songs

477
00:18:10,424 --> 00:18:12,605
as well, and I get the audience singing.

478
00:18:12,904 --> 00:18:13,965
So for example,

479
00:18:14,664 --> 00:18:16,285
I did a parody

480
00:18:16,825 --> 00:18:17,325
of,

481
00:18:17,865 --> 00:18:19,725
Blackbird to Black Hole,

482
00:18:20,184 --> 00:18:22,125
you know, instead of, you know,

483
00:18:22,829 --> 00:18:25,069
blackbird singing in the dead of night, that

484
00:18:25,069 --> 00:18:27,230
song I'd you know, I'd instead of rewrote

485
00:18:27,230 --> 00:18:29,789
it as black hole spinning in the dead

486
00:18:29,789 --> 00:18:30,450
of night

487
00:18:30,829 --> 00:18:33,230
and spiraling around out of sight until you

488
00:18:33,230 --> 00:18:35,869
collide. And when black holes collide, they produce

489
00:18:35,869 --> 00:18:36,450
a gravitational

490
00:18:36,829 --> 00:18:37,244
chirp.

491
00:18:37,644 --> 00:18:38,464
So then I

492
00:18:38,765 --> 00:18:41,265
I was able to get a gravitational

493
00:18:41,644 --> 00:18:45,184
chirp from Scott Hughes who was working on

494
00:18:45,484 --> 00:18:45,984
gravitational,

495
00:18:46,765 --> 00:18:48,845
waves. And I put that in the song,

496
00:18:48,845 --> 00:18:50,525
and it sounds like whoop. So then I

497
00:18:50,525 --> 00:18:51,585
have the whole audience

498
00:18:51,919 --> 00:18:54,079
says, everybody chirp, so everyone's going whoop whoop

499
00:18:54,079 --> 00:18:56,000
whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop. And, you know,

500
00:18:56,000 --> 00:18:57,220
so that's kinda fun.

501
00:18:57,519 --> 00:18:59,759
The more they drink, the better. So unless

502
00:18:59,759 --> 00:19:01,279
they get too drunk and they storm the

503
00:19:01,279 --> 00:19:02,259
stage, but, typically,

504
00:19:03,919 --> 00:19:05,859
yeah, the response is really fun,

505
00:19:06,794 --> 00:19:08,394
for the most part. But, you know, I've

506
00:19:08,394 --> 00:19:11,274
had, like, I've had some really negative response

507
00:19:11,274 --> 00:19:11,934
as well.

508
00:19:13,115 --> 00:19:15,835
Yeah. In the earlier days, I would get

509
00:19:15,835 --> 00:19:17,454
invited to a conference,

510
00:19:18,075 --> 00:19:18,575
and

511
00:19:18,875 --> 00:19:20,794
there would be people that would say no.

512
00:19:20,794 --> 00:19:23,000
No. We cannot have a woman on stage

513
00:19:23,000 --> 00:19:25,500
in a slinky outfit singing.

514
00:19:27,000 --> 00:19:30,119
And so I got banned from performing several

515
00:19:30,119 --> 00:19:30,619
times.

516
00:19:31,079 --> 00:19:31,740
Oh, dear.

517
00:19:32,359 --> 00:19:34,279
Yeah. It's a bit of a backlash. But,

518
00:19:34,440 --> 00:19:36,359
you know, it's I understand it. It's like,

519
00:19:36,359 --> 00:19:39,295
look. There's three women at the physics conference,

520
00:19:39,295 --> 00:19:41,295
and one of them shouldn't be on stage

521
00:19:41,295 --> 00:19:42,515
in the slinky outfit.

522
00:19:42,894 --> 00:19:44,974
So, you know, until there's more parity

523
00:19:45,535 --> 00:19:47,234
oh, I got a little play on parity.

524
00:19:47,295 --> 00:19:50,414
Parity, parity. Until until there's more quality in

525
00:19:50,414 --> 00:19:52,434
the you know, in physics,

526
00:19:52,950 --> 00:19:56,390
I understand that. So it's it's, you know,

527
00:19:56,390 --> 00:19:59,109
I understand that. Okay. Fair enough. People are

528
00:19:59,109 --> 00:20:01,289
being entertained. Some people are being, you know,

529
00:20:01,349 --> 00:20:03,349
upset by it. But most people are being

530
00:20:03,349 --> 00:20:06,069
entertained. Because at Edinburgh Fringe, not everybody is

531
00:20:06,069 --> 00:20:07,914
going to be a scientist the way they

532
00:20:07,914 --> 00:20:09,855
would be at CERN or or at conference.

533
00:20:10,475 --> 00:20:12,715
The world premiere of Atomic Haberay will be

534
00:20:12,715 --> 00:20:15,134
in Belfast right after NSAP on,

535
00:20:15,515 --> 00:20:17,595
June 18. And then I go on tour.

536
00:20:17,595 --> 00:20:19,880
So then after that, I'll be taking

537
00:20:20,500 --> 00:20:21,080
it to,

538
00:20:21,460 --> 00:20:24,820
York and then Leeds and then London and

539
00:20:24,820 --> 00:20:27,619
then you know? So several different fringes. And

540
00:20:27,619 --> 00:20:30,339
if you go to my website, atomiccabaret.com,

541
00:20:30,339 --> 00:20:31,480
you can see all the

542
00:20:32,099 --> 00:20:35,115
venues in, The UK that I'm doing. So

543
00:20:35,115 --> 00:20:38,315
that show is geared towards a general audience,

544
00:20:38,315 --> 00:20:40,255
so I will have to do exposition,

545
00:20:41,035 --> 00:20:43,434
which just means that you you know, I'm

546
00:20:43,434 --> 00:20:45,275
talking, I sing, I talk, I sing, and

547
00:20:45,275 --> 00:20:46,255
I have to explain,

548
00:20:47,599 --> 00:20:50,180
the physics. So for this show, it's primarily,

549
00:20:51,519 --> 00:20:54,720
it's more political. It's physics and politics because

550
00:20:54,720 --> 00:20:55,779
it's nuclear weapons.

551
00:20:56,480 --> 00:20:56,980
And,

552
00:20:57,839 --> 00:20:59,759
and in The UK, I'm talking about the

553
00:20:59,759 --> 00:21:02,240
dreadnought. I'm talking about the Trident. I'm talking

554
00:21:02,240 --> 00:21:04,595
about the b 61 that The US is

555
00:21:04,595 --> 00:21:06,355
bringing to Lake And Heath. There's been a

556
00:21:06,355 --> 00:21:08,355
lot of protests about that. You might have

557
00:21:08,355 --> 00:21:10,774
heard the show is a benefit for CND,

558
00:21:11,794 --> 00:21:14,855
and their attempt to, abolish nuclear weapons.

559
00:21:16,160 --> 00:21:18,559
So I will talk you know, I'm talking

560
00:21:18,559 --> 00:21:19,059
about

561
00:21:19,440 --> 00:21:22,740
how what radiation is, what nuclear physics is.

562
00:21:22,960 --> 00:21:24,400
You know? But then I'm singing a song

563
00:21:24,400 --> 00:21:27,200
about depleted uranium. So it's not as much

564
00:21:27,200 --> 00:21:28,335
of it as a

565
00:21:28,815 --> 00:21:30,194
science show and,

566
00:21:31,774 --> 00:21:33,075
so it's a bit of a,

567
00:21:34,255 --> 00:21:35,634
different, you know,

568
00:21:36,015 --> 00:21:38,815
show for me, which I'm excited about. So

569
00:21:38,894 --> 00:21:41,134
because I'm getting on in age, and so

570
00:21:41,134 --> 00:21:42,974
I kinda feel like I I need to

571
00:21:42,974 --> 00:21:43,714
be more,

572
00:21:45,080 --> 00:21:45,580
political,

573
00:21:46,119 --> 00:21:48,200
because the world's also kind of in bad

574
00:21:48,200 --> 00:21:49,960
shape right now. So I just feel like

575
00:21:49,960 --> 00:21:52,759
it's a use my platform as best I

576
00:21:52,759 --> 00:21:54,759
can to try to do good in the

577
00:21:54,759 --> 00:21:55,259
world,

578
00:21:56,519 --> 00:21:58,440
with physics. That's that seems like a good

579
00:21:58,440 --> 00:21:58,940
idea.

580
00:21:59,585 --> 00:22:02,545
Although I think possibly there are some people

581
00:22:02,545 --> 00:22:04,224
in charge in some countries in the world

582
00:22:04,224 --> 00:22:06,244
who wouldn't want people being political

583
00:22:06,545 --> 00:22:08,224
when they were on tour. I'm thinking of

584
00:22:08,224 --> 00:22:11,125
Bruce Springsteen, for example. He's currently on tour

585
00:22:11,265 --> 00:22:12,644
in The UK, and he's

586
00:22:13,025 --> 00:22:14,964
speaking out against the current

587
00:22:15,319 --> 00:22:16,940
administration in America.

588
00:22:17,480 --> 00:22:17,980
And

589
00:22:18,839 --> 00:22:19,500
the current

590
00:22:19,880 --> 00:22:22,599
president of America used some social media to

591
00:22:22,599 --> 00:22:24,759
put out a message about Bruce Springsteen being

592
00:22:25,000 --> 00:22:25,660
A loser.

593
00:22:27,160 --> 00:22:29,305
That's pretty much what he says about anyone.

594
00:22:29,765 --> 00:22:32,265
He he doesn't like him. Like, Taylor Swift's

595
00:22:32,565 --> 00:22:33,625
not hot anymore.

596
00:22:33,924 --> 00:22:36,025
She's just a loser. It's like anyways.

597
00:22:36,644 --> 00:22:38,565
If I was gonna go to a performance

598
00:22:38,565 --> 00:22:40,825
concert of any sort, I'd probably choose

599
00:22:41,339 --> 00:22:42,240
Taylor Swift,

600
00:22:42,700 --> 00:22:44,480
you, or Bruce Springsteen

601
00:22:44,940 --> 00:22:47,500
over one of his rallies. But did does

602
00:22:47,500 --> 00:22:49,679
that concern you at all for me?

603
00:22:51,420 --> 00:22:52,400
Well, for example,

604
00:22:53,019 --> 00:22:53,519
honestly,

605
00:22:53,900 --> 00:22:55,599
you know, like, so for the INSAAP

606
00:22:55,924 --> 00:22:58,664
show I'm doing, it's a audience of astronomers.

607
00:22:59,444 --> 00:23:00,664
And, you know,

608
00:23:01,444 --> 00:23:04,085
I'll have a little flavor of politics because

609
00:23:04,085 --> 00:23:05,845
I can't help it. You know? I mean,

610
00:23:05,845 --> 00:23:07,384
that's who I am, but

611
00:23:07,765 --> 00:23:08,325
it's not

612
00:23:09,240 --> 00:23:11,160
I'm not beating them over the head with

613
00:23:11,160 --> 00:23:11,980
it. Whereas

614
00:23:12,440 --> 00:23:14,839
Atomic Cabaret is just kind of a different

615
00:23:14,839 --> 00:23:15,339
show

616
00:23:15,799 --> 00:23:16,299
because,

617
00:23:17,160 --> 00:23:18,140
I'm deconstructing,

618
00:23:19,319 --> 00:23:21,099
you know, deterrence, and I'm deconstructing

619
00:23:21,480 --> 00:23:21,980
the,

620
00:23:22,279 --> 00:23:24,700
you know, the politics of

621
00:23:25,494 --> 00:23:27,494
of nuclear weapons. So, you know, that that,

622
00:23:27,494 --> 00:23:29,275
you know, we're making ourselves safer,

623
00:23:29,654 --> 00:23:31,894
you know, by having nuclear weapons is just

624
00:23:31,894 --> 00:23:34,534
absolute madness. So it's a that's a different

625
00:23:34,534 --> 00:23:35,034
show.

626
00:23:35,494 --> 00:23:36,394
Yeah. That's right.

627
00:23:56,224 --> 00:23:57,825
You know, I had, like, this success in

628
00:23:57,825 --> 00:24:00,304
the nineties where I got a full spread

629
00:24:00,304 --> 00:24:02,144
in the New York Times. I was on

630
00:24:02,144 --> 00:24:03,744
To Tell the Truth. I was in People

631
00:24:03,744 --> 00:24:05,664
Magazine. I was, like, in every you know,

632
00:24:05,664 --> 00:24:06,484
I had this

633
00:24:06,869 --> 00:24:07,369
little,

634
00:24:08,069 --> 00:24:10,309
my little fifteen minutes of fame, and what

635
00:24:10,309 --> 00:24:12,329
I got from that was a book deal.

636
00:24:12,710 --> 00:24:14,390
And it was supposed to be, like, my

637
00:24:14,390 --> 00:24:16,230
life on the stage, and I would you

638
00:24:16,230 --> 00:24:17,210
know, it'd be

639
00:24:17,829 --> 00:24:19,430
what it's like to be a woman in

640
00:24:19,430 --> 00:24:21,554
physics and my take on the universe. And

641
00:24:21,554 --> 00:24:23,794
so I got a book deal, and I

642
00:24:23,794 --> 00:24:24,534
got invited

643
00:24:24,994 --> 00:24:27,554
to do a PhD at City University of

644
00:24:27,554 --> 00:24:30,514
New York from with Brian Schwartz, who's a

645
00:24:30,514 --> 00:24:33,075
physicist, and he's very supportive of,

646
00:24:34,115 --> 00:24:36,194
physics and theater and science and the arts.

647
00:24:36,194 --> 00:24:36,934
And so

648
00:24:37,529 --> 00:24:39,930
I started my PhD. I moved to New

649
00:24:39,930 --> 00:24:42,350
York City in February.

650
00:24:42,730 --> 00:24:43,210
So,

651
00:24:43,769 --> 00:24:45,950
a few weeks later, nine eleven happened,

652
00:24:46,650 --> 00:24:47,150
and

653
00:24:48,170 --> 00:24:51,369
I saw the towers fall from my apartment

654
00:24:51,369 --> 00:24:54,404
in Brooklyn, and I fled. I just fled.

655
00:24:54,404 --> 00:24:55,544
I went back to California.

656
00:24:56,164 --> 00:24:59,065
I was very traumatized by that experience. And,

657
00:25:00,724 --> 00:25:03,444
like, what happens often in warfare is that

658
00:25:03,444 --> 00:25:05,845
I found myself pregnant within a year, and

659
00:25:05,845 --> 00:25:07,044
you don't have to put this in the

660
00:25:07,044 --> 00:25:08,519
show, but you know? So I was like,

661
00:25:08,519 --> 00:25:09,880
I have to get a job. I'm a

662
00:25:09,880 --> 00:25:11,799
single mom, so I went I gave up

663
00:25:11,799 --> 00:25:12,539
my career,

664
00:25:13,000 --> 00:25:13,740
and I,

665
00:25:15,240 --> 00:25:17,480
and I taught physics at a community college

666
00:25:17,480 --> 00:25:19,799
for twenty years until my son, you know,

667
00:25:19,799 --> 00:25:21,660
went off to college, and I retired.

668
00:25:22,164 --> 00:25:23,924
And so now that I have this big

669
00:25:23,924 --> 00:25:24,904
twenty year gap

670
00:25:25,444 --> 00:25:27,204
of doing being on the road and doing

671
00:25:27,204 --> 00:25:27,704
shows.

672
00:25:28,005 --> 00:25:30,265
I did, however, have the opportunity

673
00:25:30,644 --> 00:25:34,105
to do some shows, especially at my college,

674
00:25:34,599 --> 00:25:35,819
because we had a planetarium.

675
00:25:36,200 --> 00:25:37,259
So I was producing

676
00:25:38,039 --> 00:25:38,539
shows,

677
00:25:39,799 --> 00:25:40,700
in the planetarium.

678
00:25:41,079 --> 00:25:42,440
I was doing all,

679
00:25:43,079 --> 00:25:45,799
you know, astronomy and physics, like, themes about

680
00:25:45,799 --> 00:25:48,515
Starship Earth and, cosmic evolution

681
00:25:49,055 --> 00:25:51,134
and going in I it's my favorite theater

682
00:25:51,134 --> 00:25:53,535
is the planetarium because the acoustics are really

683
00:25:53,535 --> 00:25:55,934
great. So I would do musical shows in

684
00:25:55,934 --> 00:25:56,595
the planetarium,

685
00:25:57,134 --> 00:25:58,654
and I was able to do that for

686
00:25:58,654 --> 00:26:01,235
years. So I continued to produce work,

687
00:26:01,559 --> 00:26:02,299
but not

688
00:26:03,240 --> 00:26:05,740
out at conferences as much as,

689
00:26:06,839 --> 00:26:09,399
I was doing before just because, you know,

690
00:26:09,399 --> 00:26:10,679
I was a single mom, and I had

691
00:26:10,679 --> 00:26:13,179
to at one point, I was doing shows

692
00:26:13,319 --> 00:26:14,919
a lot, and I was like, I something's

693
00:26:14,919 --> 00:26:17,545
gotta, you know, give because I can't do

694
00:26:17,545 --> 00:26:19,384
it all. I'm gonna either suffer as a

695
00:26:19,384 --> 00:26:22,025
mom or suffer as a teacher or, you

696
00:26:22,025 --> 00:26:24,265
know, suffer as a performer. So I just

697
00:26:24,265 --> 00:26:26,585
said, well, I'll do that later. So now

698
00:26:26,585 --> 00:26:28,424
I'm getting my act back together and taking

699
00:26:28,424 --> 00:26:30,019
it on the road. I'm really excited. Amazing.

700
00:26:30,019 --> 00:26:32,179
Do you feel like the the physics community

701
00:26:32,179 --> 00:26:33,240
has become more

702
00:26:33,779 --> 00:26:35,559
accepting of this sort of

703
00:26:35,859 --> 00:26:37,700
mixture of science and the arts in this

704
00:26:37,700 --> 00:26:39,940
way? Yeah. I I mean, definitely. Like, if

705
00:26:39,940 --> 00:26:42,599
you recall, there was big plays like Copenhagen,

706
00:26:43,484 --> 00:26:45,565
you know, which was a, you know, wild

707
00:26:45,565 --> 00:26:47,505
Tony award winning show.

708
00:26:48,045 --> 00:26:48,944
And I think

709
00:26:49,244 --> 00:26:51,984
with climate science, there's a lot of climate

710
00:26:52,444 --> 00:26:52,944
theater.

711
00:26:54,045 --> 00:26:56,924
I think, like, even at Edinburgh Fringe, there's

712
00:26:56,924 --> 00:26:59,240
a there's a lot of climate shows. I

713
00:26:59,240 --> 00:27:01,900
think so, I mean, it's climate physics.

714
00:27:02,440 --> 00:27:04,539
There's not a lot of physics theater.

715
00:27:05,160 --> 00:27:07,100
No. There's some there's some comedians

716
00:27:07,799 --> 00:27:09,019
who are doing science.

717
00:27:10,680 --> 00:27:11,820
I know there's a mathematician

718
00:27:12,200 --> 00:27:14,539
who and who's doing some stand up,

719
00:27:15,025 --> 00:27:17,184
and he's pretty funny. But it's not that

720
00:27:17,184 --> 00:27:19,045
common, I'd have to say.

721
00:27:19,984 --> 00:27:21,444
So whether or not they

722
00:27:21,904 --> 00:27:23,744
accept it is I mean, it's like with

723
00:27:23,744 --> 00:27:26,625
any field. They're serious. They got business to

724
00:27:26,625 --> 00:27:27,845
take care of. Geologists

725
00:27:28,305 --> 00:27:30,244
are the most chill.

726
00:27:30,569 --> 00:27:32,109
So I love doing the,

727
00:27:32,890 --> 00:27:34,990
you know, the American Geological Union

728
00:27:35,369 --> 00:27:38,169
shows. Done several of those because they're they're

729
00:27:38,169 --> 00:27:42,009
kinda chill. Astronomers tend to be chill. Particle

730
00:27:42,009 --> 00:27:42,509
physicists,

731
00:27:43,054 --> 00:27:43,875
very uptight.

732
00:27:45,295 --> 00:27:46,355
You know, fusion,

733
00:27:46,654 --> 00:27:48,575
I've I've done a I did a fusion

734
00:27:48,575 --> 00:27:51,134
conference. They were pretty uptight. So it just

735
00:27:51,134 --> 00:27:51,634
depends.

736
00:27:52,255 --> 00:27:54,115
You know, people are very serious.

737
00:27:55,380 --> 00:27:57,380
And but I've been really lucky because I've

738
00:27:57,380 --> 00:27:59,160
done a lot of shows with Kip Thorne.

739
00:27:59,299 --> 00:28:02,099
So you know? And he's a big fan.

740
00:28:02,099 --> 00:28:03,960
He's, he even gave me a quote

741
00:28:04,259 --> 00:28:05,480
for this show.

742
00:28:06,180 --> 00:28:07,700
I got to quote him, and he said,

743
00:28:07,700 --> 00:28:09,855
Linda will blow your mind. And I said,

744
00:28:09,855 --> 00:28:12,095
that's perfect. Thank you very much, Kip. You

745
00:28:12,095 --> 00:28:13,634
know? And so Cool.

746
00:28:14,815 --> 00:28:15,295
Yeah.

747
00:28:15,775 --> 00:28:18,174
So not a really great audience when someone

748
00:28:18,174 --> 00:28:20,355
like Kip Thorne comes on stage and introduces

749
00:28:20,414 --> 00:28:21,954
you and says you know,

750
00:28:22,289 --> 00:28:24,450
gives you accolades and says how great you

751
00:28:24,450 --> 00:28:26,930
are. It's like it's hard. Everyone it,

752
00:28:27,490 --> 00:28:29,809
you know, yeah, it just gets everybody jazzed

753
00:28:29,809 --> 00:28:31,890
up. This isn't deliberate, but I'm wearing an

754
00:28:31,890 --> 00:28:34,130
Interstellar T shirt, which is obviously Kip Thorne

755
00:28:34,130 --> 00:28:36,210
Kip Thorne related. So how did you meet

756
00:28:36,210 --> 00:28:37,964
Kip Thorne then? How did that come about?

757
00:28:38,444 --> 00:28:38,944
So

758
00:28:39,884 --> 00:28:43,585
I was hired by Richard Price, who is

759
00:28:43,804 --> 00:28:44,544
a gravitational

760
00:28:45,644 --> 00:28:49,164
theorist for the KipFest. So Kip was turning

761
00:28:49,164 --> 00:28:51,039
60 years old, and

762
00:28:51,419 --> 00:28:54,559
they were planning this giant party at Caltech.

763
00:28:54,779 --> 00:28:55,839
And so

764
00:28:56,299 --> 00:28:58,700
Richard saw me and, you know, somehow found

765
00:28:58,700 --> 00:29:01,179
out about me and hired me. And so

766
00:29:01,179 --> 00:29:03,099
I helped in the coordination. This is my

767
00:29:03,099 --> 00:29:05,934
favorite part is to actually participate in organizing

768
00:29:05,994 --> 00:29:06,654
the party.

769
00:29:07,115 --> 00:29:09,515
And it was my idea, I have to

770
00:29:09,515 --> 00:29:11,295
take credit for, to,

771
00:29:12,075 --> 00:29:12,975
have a,

772
00:29:13,914 --> 00:29:15,535
a, like, a family tree

773
00:29:15,994 --> 00:29:18,660
for Kip, like, where he came from because

774
00:29:18,740 --> 00:29:21,220
so his you have Einstein, then you have

775
00:29:21,220 --> 00:29:23,859
Wheeler, then Wheeler was his mentor, and then

776
00:29:23,859 --> 00:29:26,019
he then you have his tree of all

777
00:29:26,019 --> 00:29:28,980
his students, grad students, and so on. And

778
00:29:28,980 --> 00:29:30,839
so we got to work on that. And,

779
00:29:31,954 --> 00:29:34,595
and so I was able to perform at

780
00:29:34,595 --> 00:29:36,194
the KIPP Fest, and I sang a bunch

781
00:29:36,194 --> 00:29:37,174
of songs, and

782
00:29:37,555 --> 00:29:39,154
that was it. I was at a party

783
00:29:39,154 --> 00:29:40,914
at KIPP's house, and it was like a

784
00:29:40,914 --> 00:29:43,474
who's who in general relativity. And, of course,

785
00:29:43,474 --> 00:29:46,214
his best friend, Stephen Hawking, was there, and

786
00:29:46,720 --> 00:29:49,200
and he yeah. So he invited me back

787
00:29:49,200 --> 00:29:52,259
for several other events to perform at.

788
00:29:53,759 --> 00:29:55,139
Yeah. He's a,

789
00:29:56,079 --> 00:29:58,960
he is a great supporter of you know,

790
00:29:58,960 --> 00:30:00,259
has been for my work.

791
00:30:01,375 --> 00:30:03,315
You met Stephen Hawking as well then?

792
00:30:03,615 --> 00:30:06,095
Yeah. I got to perform at his birthday

793
00:30:06,095 --> 00:30:08,034
party, his sixtieth birthday party.

794
00:30:08,414 --> 00:30:10,894
He had a big birthday party in The

795
00:30:10,894 --> 00:30:12,894
UK, but then he had a smaller little

796
00:30:12,894 --> 00:30:14,194
bash birthday bash,

797
00:30:14,654 --> 00:30:16,309
in a jazz club in,

798
00:30:17,090 --> 00:30:17,590
Pasadena,

799
00:30:17,970 --> 00:30:20,370
and Kip flew me in to perform at

800
00:30:20,370 --> 00:30:20,870
that.

801
00:30:21,570 --> 00:30:22,549
And that was,

802
00:30:23,090 --> 00:30:23,990
that was exciting.

803
00:30:25,009 --> 00:30:25,509
Amazing.

804
00:30:26,130 --> 00:30:26,630
Okay.

805
00:30:27,490 --> 00:30:29,250
Is it do you have a I it's

806
00:30:29,250 --> 00:30:31,394
it's hard to say. Right? Because you've made

807
00:30:31,394 --> 00:30:33,955
songs about and for some pretty amazing people.

808
00:30:33,955 --> 00:30:36,215
Is it do you have a particular favorite,

809
00:30:37,154 --> 00:30:39,494
person to write for or about?

810
00:30:41,234 --> 00:30:42,914
Well, it has to be Kip Thorne. You

811
00:30:42,914 --> 00:30:43,715
know? I mean,

812
00:30:44,730 --> 00:30:47,130
because his work is so phenomenal, and he

813
00:30:47,130 --> 00:30:50,009
is such an amazing person. He's so kind

814
00:30:50,009 --> 00:30:51,309
and generous and

815
00:30:51,690 --> 00:30:52,829
brilliant. And,

816
00:30:54,329 --> 00:30:55,309
yeah, that's probably

817
00:30:55,769 --> 00:30:59,204
been my best greatest muse for sure.

818
00:31:00,785 --> 00:31:02,785
Yeah. And then but as far as, like,

819
00:31:02,785 --> 00:31:05,125
a topic that's fun to write about,

820
00:31:05,424 --> 00:31:07,825
particle physics is really fun to write about

821
00:31:07,825 --> 00:31:09,505
because you have you know, I've written quark

822
00:31:09,505 --> 00:31:11,984
songs and different songs and my love on

823
00:31:11,984 --> 00:31:14,400
song. I was commissioned to write a song

824
00:31:14,779 --> 00:31:17,119
for a science radio show for,

825
00:31:18,299 --> 00:31:18,799
Valentine's,

826
00:31:19,340 --> 00:31:20,859
and I came up with my best song

827
00:31:20,859 --> 00:31:24,059
I've ever written, which is I discovered the

828
00:31:24,059 --> 00:31:26,640
Love On, which is the boson of love.

829
00:31:27,234 --> 00:31:29,474
And so then, you know, it's the particle

830
00:31:29,474 --> 00:31:31,634
of love, and that's been, and I end

831
00:31:31,634 --> 00:31:33,015
every show with that song.

832
00:31:33,714 --> 00:31:35,234
We need to add it to the standard

833
00:31:35,234 --> 00:31:37,335
model chart. It's the force that's missing,

834
00:31:38,194 --> 00:31:39,815
from the chart is the Lovon.

835
00:31:40,259 --> 00:31:40,759
And,

836
00:31:41,140 --> 00:31:43,220
you know, so yeah. So those are that's

837
00:31:43,220 --> 00:31:45,000
a really fun topic to sing about

838
00:31:45,299 --> 00:31:47,320
and write songs about. It's very lyrical.

839
00:31:48,820 --> 00:31:50,920
The standard model of physics

840
00:31:51,940 --> 00:31:53,080
has four forces

841
00:31:53,515 --> 00:31:54,335
in it.

842
00:31:54,714 --> 00:31:56,095
The strong, the weak,

843
00:31:56,474 --> 00:31:56,974
gravity

844
00:31:57,835 --> 00:31:59,134
and the electromagnetic.

845
00:32:00,875 --> 00:32:03,294
But I have found a new force

846
00:32:03,835 --> 00:32:06,255
that rules from high above.

847
00:32:07,434 --> 00:32:08,255
Let me

848
00:32:08,830 --> 00:32:10,289
propose to you

849
00:32:10,910 --> 00:32:13,730
a unified theory of love.

850
00:32:17,390 --> 00:32:17,890
About

851
00:32:18,430 --> 00:32:20,289
when you were doing this in the in

852
00:32:20,670 --> 00:32:21,330
the nineties,

853
00:32:22,005 --> 00:32:24,505
you were talking about nuclear weapons.

854
00:32:26,644 --> 00:32:27,144
We're

855
00:32:27,445 --> 00:32:29,204
back doing it again. You're back doing it

856
00:32:29,204 --> 00:32:29,704
again.

857
00:32:30,325 --> 00:32:31,924
Why do we still need to talk about

858
00:32:31,924 --> 00:32:32,424
this?

859
00:32:35,125 --> 00:32:35,625
Sadly,

860
00:32:36,700 --> 00:32:38,160
because we still have

861
00:32:38,860 --> 00:32:40,160
overkill capacity

862
00:32:40,460 --> 00:32:42,960
to murder the biosphere. I mean, ultimately,

863
00:32:43,980 --> 00:32:46,460
you know, I started writing a song called

864
00:32:46,460 --> 00:32:47,119
the deep

865
00:32:47,740 --> 00:32:50,075
because I'm obsessed with the deep field, and

866
00:32:50,075 --> 00:32:52,315
it starts off by saying I've been staring

867
00:32:52,315 --> 00:32:53,295
at the deep field

868
00:32:53,674 --> 00:32:56,095
and thinking about how many, you know,

869
00:32:56,875 --> 00:32:59,994
thousands of galaxies and millions of billions of

870
00:32:59,994 --> 00:33:02,315
stars, and yet we still have this deep

871
00:33:02,315 --> 00:33:04,255
silence. We have the great silence

872
00:33:05,000 --> 00:33:07,399
of the Fermi paradox. Right? Where why are

873
00:33:07,399 --> 00:33:09,720
we alone? Are we alone? Do does it

874
00:33:09,879 --> 00:33:10,779
do we require

875
00:33:11,240 --> 00:33:12,779
a universe of entropy

876
00:33:13,079 --> 00:33:15,399
in order to have the emergence of this

877
00:33:15,399 --> 00:33:17,799
complexity of life on Earth? Like, what you

878
00:33:17,799 --> 00:33:20,315
know, that I reject Copernicanism

879
00:33:20,855 --> 00:33:22,855
that, you know, we're not special. We're super

880
00:33:22,855 --> 00:33:25,575
special and that we would have the we

881
00:33:25,575 --> 00:33:26,394
would dare

882
00:33:27,015 --> 00:33:27,515
to,

883
00:33:28,454 --> 00:33:31,275
jeopardize something as rare as life,

884
00:33:32,339 --> 00:33:33,720
is out outrageous

885
00:33:34,019 --> 00:33:34,660
to me. It's,

886
00:33:35,460 --> 00:33:36,980
I think about it all the time and

887
00:33:36,980 --> 00:33:38,900
I always have. It's always been I think

888
00:33:38,900 --> 00:33:40,119
the day I discovered,

889
00:33:40,579 --> 00:33:42,500
wow, we can kill all life on earth.

890
00:33:42,500 --> 00:33:44,500
Like, not just kill all life on earth

891
00:33:44,500 --> 00:33:46,579
and, oh, that's okay. Humans will go away,

892
00:33:46,579 --> 00:33:48,825
and then the Earth will be better because

893
00:33:48,825 --> 00:33:50,845
another life form will emerge afterwards.

894
00:33:51,224 --> 00:33:53,785
I'm talking about biotic death, the end of

895
00:33:53,785 --> 00:33:54,285
evolution.

896
00:33:54,904 --> 00:33:57,305
Like, it'll be so dead. There'll only be

897
00:33:57,305 --> 00:33:57,805
extremophiles.

898
00:33:58,984 --> 00:34:01,410
So, you know, that's the sad thing. And

899
00:34:01,490 --> 00:34:03,250
putting that in a show and at the

900
00:34:03,250 --> 00:34:05,890
Edinburgh Fringe is a challenge. So I'm trying

901
00:34:06,049 --> 00:34:09,170
you know? But it's something people don't wanna

902
00:34:09,170 --> 00:34:09,829
talk about.

903
00:34:10,849 --> 00:34:12,929
It is the business of physics. The number

904
00:34:12,929 --> 00:34:15,030
one business of physics is nuclear weapons.

905
00:34:15,425 --> 00:34:17,425
So, you know and that's heartbreaking to me

906
00:34:17,425 --> 00:34:17,925
because

907
00:34:19,184 --> 00:34:22,065
the universe is so interesting and exciting and

908
00:34:22,065 --> 00:34:22,565
fascinating

909
00:34:22,864 --> 00:34:25,364
and everything in it from pulsars to quasars

910
00:34:25,425 --> 00:34:27,710
to the big bang and galaxies and, you

911
00:34:27,710 --> 00:34:29,809
know, we're on this planetary starship

912
00:34:30,269 --> 00:34:33,469
spaceship, spaceship Earth orbiting a star that's dragging

913
00:34:33,469 --> 00:34:35,789
us through a galaxy. And, you know, if

914
00:34:35,789 --> 00:34:37,010
we could think galactically

915
00:34:37,869 --> 00:34:40,510
and preserve life on Earth, who knows where

916
00:34:40,510 --> 00:34:42,510
our future generations will end up and what

917
00:34:42,510 --> 00:34:44,815
will happen? The idea that we have to

918
00:34:44,815 --> 00:34:45,875
extend the human,

919
00:34:46,894 --> 00:34:49,454
species to Mars to preserve the light of

920
00:34:49,454 --> 00:34:49,954
consciousness,

921
00:34:50,335 --> 00:34:51,795
like, from Elon Musk,

922
00:34:52,575 --> 00:34:53,715
is just ridiculous.

923
00:34:54,175 --> 00:34:56,755
Because it's like a Mars is like a

924
00:34:57,140 --> 00:34:59,699
shitty little planet. You know? Like, why we're

925
00:34:59,699 --> 00:35:02,440
already interstellar. We're inter we're planetary.

926
00:35:02,980 --> 00:35:04,900
We're on this the spaceship. That's kind of

927
00:35:04,900 --> 00:35:07,140
my ethos I'm working on right now that's

928
00:35:07,140 --> 00:35:09,619
also in my show, which is, like, you

929
00:35:09,619 --> 00:35:11,684
know, let's let's try to get rid of

930
00:35:11,844 --> 00:35:14,344
our capacity to murder the biosphere

931
00:35:14,885 --> 00:35:17,125
so that we can continue on this journey

932
00:35:17,125 --> 00:35:18,265
in space because,

933
00:35:18,724 --> 00:35:20,644
you know, this is the I actually have

934
00:35:20,644 --> 00:35:22,085
a song. This is how it's it's it's

935
00:35:22,085 --> 00:35:24,885
called Spaceship Earth, and it starts out with,

936
00:35:24,885 --> 00:35:27,719
you know, often you hear Elon Musk saying

937
00:35:27,719 --> 00:35:31,320
that humans have to colonize Mars, that we

938
00:35:31,320 --> 00:35:33,320
have to go to the stars, that we

939
00:35:33,320 --> 00:35:35,239
have to go to space. And I just

940
00:35:35,239 --> 00:35:37,880
wonder, where does he think we are? We

941
00:35:37,880 --> 00:35:40,360
are in space. We're on a planet. We're

942
00:35:40,360 --> 00:35:41,880
in you know, so it goes into this

943
00:35:41,880 --> 00:35:43,934
whole thing, and it's just like, you know,

944
00:35:43,934 --> 00:35:44,994
it's it's like,

945
00:35:45,775 --> 00:35:48,815
Copernicus never happened. We're all living like we're

946
00:35:48,815 --> 00:35:49,315
flatlanders,

947
00:35:49,855 --> 00:35:51,454
that all there is is Earth. It's the

948
00:35:51,454 --> 00:35:53,454
center of the universe, and we don't have

949
00:35:53,454 --> 00:35:54,195
this galactic

950
00:35:54,655 --> 00:35:56,815
perspective that we're on a planet orbiting a

951
00:35:56,815 --> 00:35:59,289
star, orbiting a galaxy in a local group

952
00:35:59,289 --> 00:36:01,929
of galaxies expanding with the Hubble flow. I

953
00:36:01,929 --> 00:36:04,829
mean, we gotta think galactic to save ourselves.

954
00:36:04,969 --> 00:36:07,309
We gotta be more Star Trek and less

955
00:36:07,369 --> 00:36:09,369
Star Wars. I mean, I like Star Wars

956
00:36:09,369 --> 00:36:11,069
too. But, yes, I see what you're saying.

957
00:36:12,409 --> 00:36:14,109
I know. I like them both too.

958
00:36:15,684 --> 00:36:17,605
So it seems a really odd decision that

959
00:36:17,605 --> 00:36:19,045
when but my daughter used to ask me

960
00:36:19,045 --> 00:36:20,405
that all the time. Star Wars or Star

961
00:36:20,405 --> 00:36:22,565
Trek? I'll be like, both? Why why do

962
00:36:22,565 --> 00:36:24,184
I have to choose between them?

963
00:36:24,964 --> 00:36:27,445
The world premiere is a very exciting time

964
00:36:27,445 --> 00:36:29,304
because you've never performed it before.

965
00:36:29,730 --> 00:36:30,949
I suspect that

966
00:36:31,329 --> 00:36:33,409
the world premiere will look quite different as

967
00:36:33,409 --> 00:36:34,929
a show to the last one you do

968
00:36:34,929 --> 00:36:38,309
in the Edinburgh Fringe because you've you've evolved

969
00:36:38,369 --> 00:36:40,690
with the audience's reaction. You know, there's a

970
00:36:40,769 --> 00:36:42,530
I forget what it's called. Just telling you

971
00:36:42,530 --> 00:36:44,849
this because I did perform several times at

972
00:36:44,849 --> 00:36:45,465
the Swedish

973
00:36:46,344 --> 00:36:47,244
Science Festival.

974
00:36:47,545 --> 00:36:50,265
Because, you know, in other countries, science is

975
00:36:50,265 --> 00:36:53,644
huge. Edinburgh has Edinburgh has a science festival,

976
00:36:53,785 --> 00:36:56,025
fringe festival. I mean, there's it's much more

977
00:36:56,025 --> 00:36:57,864
popular in Europe than it is in in

978
00:36:57,864 --> 00:36:58,525
The States.

979
00:36:59,489 --> 00:37:01,730
They have something. It's a it's I forget

980
00:37:01,730 --> 00:37:03,489
what the word is, and it's I forgot

981
00:37:03,489 --> 00:37:04,849
about this, and I need to find what

982
00:37:04,849 --> 00:37:05,909
it is. There's a Swedish

983
00:37:07,170 --> 00:37:09,250
word for an artist who kind of goes

984
00:37:09,250 --> 00:37:11,489
to a place and and creates on the

985
00:37:11,489 --> 00:37:14,085
spot. Now that's not exactly what I'm doing,

986
00:37:14,085 --> 00:37:14,585
but

987
00:37:14,885 --> 00:37:15,625
I am

988
00:37:16,005 --> 00:37:18,644
when I go to another location if I

989
00:37:18,644 --> 00:37:20,724
were to go globally, I would, like, talk

990
00:37:20,724 --> 00:37:22,724
about what's you know, just like a stand

991
00:37:22,724 --> 00:37:24,565
up comedian does that. Right? They go and

992
00:37:24,565 --> 00:37:26,950
they talk about the issues of that community.

993
00:37:26,950 --> 00:37:27,450
So

994
00:37:28,150 --> 00:37:29,910
when I'm in Scotland, I'm doing a show

995
00:37:29,910 --> 00:37:30,650
in Glasgow.

996
00:37:31,430 --> 00:37:32,809
I'm going to talk about

997
00:37:33,110 --> 00:37:36,390
Fastlane. That's where the Trident submarines are based.

998
00:37:36,390 --> 00:37:38,710
You know? And so there's if I was

999
00:37:38,710 --> 00:37:39,349
doing a show,

1000
00:37:40,704 --> 00:37:43,664
you know, down south in in in England,

1001
00:37:43,664 --> 00:37:45,905
I would, you know, talk about Lakenheath and

1002
00:37:45,905 --> 00:37:48,565
the B 60 1 or or whatnot. So

1003
00:37:48,625 --> 00:37:50,944
there's different issues. But, yeah, the show is

1004
00:37:50,944 --> 00:37:51,844
gonna evolve.

1005
00:37:52,625 --> 00:37:53,525
I do extemporaneous

1006
00:37:54,144 --> 00:37:56,300
performance. So what I'm doing is I have

1007
00:37:56,300 --> 00:37:58,400
all the songs. I have a script.

1008
00:37:58,780 --> 00:38:01,179
I have you know, I'm using PowerPoint. So,

1009
00:38:01,179 --> 00:38:03,199
you know, there's a structure to it, but

1010
00:38:03,659 --> 00:38:04,640
it's changing.

1011
00:38:05,420 --> 00:38:08,219
So the beauty of everything except Edinburgh I

1012
00:38:08,219 --> 00:38:09,894
mean, Edinburgh, I got forty five minutes. I

1013
00:38:09,894 --> 00:38:11,654
got ten minutes in, ten minutes out. Like,

1014
00:38:11,654 --> 00:38:13,174
there is you know, I've never been to

1015
00:38:13,174 --> 00:38:15,014
the Fringe before, so I'm sure it's gonna

1016
00:38:15,014 --> 00:38:16,694
blow my mind. But, you know, that's the

1017
00:38:16,694 --> 00:38:18,054
whole thing. It's like you got ten minutes

1018
00:38:18,054 --> 00:38:19,815
to get in, set up, do your show,

1019
00:38:19,815 --> 00:38:21,809
ten minutes out. So it I'll be much

1020
00:38:22,210 --> 00:38:23,829
whatever what I end up doing

1021
00:38:24,210 --> 00:38:25,989
at the end of my tour at Edinburgh

1022
00:38:26,130 --> 00:38:27,890
will be very different than what I'm doing

1023
00:38:27,890 --> 00:38:30,469
in Belfast, you know, for the world premiere.

1024
00:38:31,090 --> 00:38:32,789
Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. David,

1025
00:38:33,250 --> 00:38:34,610
how many shows are you gonna be doing

1026
00:38:34,610 --> 00:38:35,269
in Edinburgh?

1027
00:38:36,085 --> 00:38:36,585
Nine.

1028
00:38:37,125 --> 00:38:39,125
So I'm just I'm not doing the full

1029
00:38:39,125 --> 00:38:41,605
run because I have no idea what to

1030
00:38:41,605 --> 00:38:43,224
expect. And quite honestly,

1031
00:38:43,844 --> 00:38:45,465
I've never done more than

1032
00:38:45,925 --> 00:38:48,769
two shows. Like, I've done several weekends

1033
00:38:49,070 --> 00:38:51,710
consecutively, but only weekends. Like, I've never done

1034
00:38:51,869 --> 00:38:53,809
I don't know how people do three weeks.

1035
00:38:54,829 --> 00:38:56,590
You know, night after night after night, I'm,

1036
00:38:56,590 --> 00:38:59,250
like, tired. I like, anyway so,

1037
00:39:00,030 --> 00:39:02,424
but then I plan to take this to

1038
00:39:02,424 --> 00:39:04,585
Australia because they have fringes. But, you know,

1039
00:39:04,585 --> 00:39:05,324
next year

1040
00:39:05,864 --> 00:39:08,824
is the some anniversary for Chernobyl. And I'm

1041
00:39:08,824 --> 00:39:10,924
like, I'm gonna do the Chernobyl show.

1042
00:39:11,304 --> 00:39:12,844
And I have a song for that.

1043
00:39:13,545 --> 00:39:15,304
I haven't written it yet, but it's a

1044
00:39:15,304 --> 00:39:17,239
it's a parody of, I don't know if

1045
00:39:17,239 --> 00:39:19,480
you know this song from American in Paris,

1046
00:39:19,480 --> 00:39:21,719
but it's like it's like, I'm building a

1047
00:39:21,719 --> 00:39:23,179
staircase to paradise

1048
00:39:23,800 --> 00:39:26,059
with a new step every day.

1049
00:39:27,079 --> 00:39:29,480
Maurice shall I forget who's singing it, but

1050
00:39:29,480 --> 00:39:29,980
Maurice

1051
00:39:30,359 --> 00:39:31,965
some old singer guy.

1052
00:39:32,525 --> 00:39:34,125
And so they wanna do, like, this I'll

1053
00:39:34,125 --> 00:39:36,684
have an animation of the sarcophagus that's slipping

1054
00:39:36,684 --> 00:39:39,644
over. Chernobyl will be like, I'm building a

1055
00:39:39,644 --> 00:39:41,344
staircase to paradise.

1056
00:39:41,965 --> 00:39:42,785
One sarcophagus

1057
00:39:43,244 --> 00:39:43,744
every

1058
00:39:44,285 --> 00:39:46,625
decade or whatever it end up being.

1059
00:39:47,059 --> 00:39:49,780
They just but, right, Russians just drone bomb

1060
00:39:49,780 --> 00:39:50,440
the sarcophagus.

1061
00:39:50,820 --> 00:39:52,820
You know? It's like, what, a hundred million

1062
00:39:52,820 --> 00:39:55,219
dollars, you know, to do that? They're gonna

1063
00:39:55,219 --> 00:39:56,199
have to do it forever.

1064
00:39:57,139 --> 00:39:58,280
Mhmm. I mean

1065
00:39:58,900 --> 00:40:01,219
right? I mean, think of, like, at least

1066
00:40:01,219 --> 00:40:02,119
with Chernobyl,

1067
00:40:02,585 --> 00:40:04,605
they can cover it. With Fukushima,

1068
00:40:05,144 --> 00:40:06,924
it's just oozing into the ocean.

1069
00:40:07,304 --> 00:40:08,204
You know? So,

1070
00:40:08,984 --> 00:40:10,744
it's kind of like a it would be

1071
00:40:10,744 --> 00:40:13,545
more like a show about these wounds on

1072
00:40:13,545 --> 00:40:15,625
mother earth that we're gonna have to, like,

1073
00:40:15,625 --> 00:40:18,550
take care of, like, vessel virgins serving

1074
00:40:19,090 --> 00:40:21,650
the altar, you know, like, forever. We're gonna

1075
00:40:21,650 --> 00:40:23,730
have to be caring for these wounds we

1076
00:40:23,730 --> 00:40:24,230
created

1077
00:40:24,929 --> 00:40:26,789
with, you know, our technology.

1078
00:40:57,494 --> 00:40:59,255
My feeling about this is, like, look. How

1079
00:40:59,255 --> 00:41:00,954
many songs are written about love?

1080
00:41:01,974 --> 00:41:03,034
Millions. Right?

1081
00:41:03,335 --> 00:41:05,574
How many why don't why aren't we singing

1082
00:41:05,574 --> 00:41:07,835
about everything? Why aren't we singing about,

1083
00:41:08,449 --> 00:41:10,710
you know, quarks and leptons and,

1084
00:41:11,089 --> 00:41:14,449
quasars and pulsars and nuclear weapons? And, you

1085
00:41:14,449 --> 00:41:15,750
know, there's a full

1086
00:41:17,010 --> 00:41:17,510
universe

1087
00:41:18,049 --> 00:41:19,510
of topics that are worthy

1088
00:41:20,130 --> 00:41:21,349
of singing about

1089
00:41:21,755 --> 00:41:22,574
and celebrating

1090
00:41:22,954 --> 00:41:25,675
and hopefully is entertaining to people, not just

1091
00:41:25,675 --> 00:41:27,055
scientists. So that's

1092
00:41:28,074 --> 00:41:30,715
that's kinda my jam. I do write songs

1093
00:41:30,715 --> 00:41:32,494
about love, but it usually involves

1094
00:41:33,515 --> 00:41:35,940
a boson. When you hear songs that aren't

1095
00:41:35,940 --> 00:41:38,339
scientifically accurate, does it bother you anyhow? I'm

1096
00:41:38,339 --> 00:41:40,199
thinking of things like

1097
00:41:40,579 --> 00:41:41,719
the final countdown

1098
00:41:42,019 --> 00:41:43,480
where they're heading for Venus,

1099
00:41:44,339 --> 00:41:46,420
and and maybe they've seen us. I'm not

1100
00:41:46,500 --> 00:41:48,260
I know there's possibly life in the clouds

1101
00:41:48,260 --> 00:41:49,780
of Venus, but I don't think it's got

1102
00:41:49,780 --> 00:41:52,065
eyes. Does that worry you? No. But let's

1103
00:41:52,065 --> 00:41:54,465
face it. The best science song ever written

1104
00:41:54,465 --> 00:41:56,005
in the history of the world

1105
00:41:56,465 --> 00:41:58,164
is the galaxy song.

1106
00:41:59,824 --> 00:42:01,684
You know, and I don't know how accurate

1107
00:42:01,824 --> 00:42:02,565
that is,

1108
00:42:03,505 --> 00:42:06,085
but it's pretty accurate. But that's a fantastic

1109
00:42:07,349 --> 00:42:09,190
song. I if I ever wrote a song

1110
00:42:09,190 --> 00:42:10,650
that well, I would,

1111
00:42:12,070 --> 00:42:14,550
be so proud. But that's a really good

1112
00:42:14,550 --> 00:42:15,050
song.

1113
00:42:16,150 --> 00:42:18,309
I don't there are like, I'm in a

1114
00:42:18,309 --> 00:42:20,570
group of science singers. I've been to conferences

1115
00:42:21,349 --> 00:42:21,849
of

1116
00:42:22,230 --> 00:42:22,730
science

1117
00:42:23,295 --> 00:42:23,795
songwriters.

1118
00:42:24,094 --> 00:42:26,434
And if you go on YouTube and you

1119
00:42:26,815 --> 00:42:30,114
look up science songs, often what you find

1120
00:42:30,255 --> 00:42:31,234
are assignments

1121
00:42:31,775 --> 00:42:33,375
teachers have given kids in,

1122
00:42:34,255 --> 00:42:34,755
you

1123
00:42:35,135 --> 00:42:38,114
know, elementary and middle school or high school

1124
00:42:38,329 --> 00:42:40,670
for extra credit. Like, write a song about

1125
00:42:41,050 --> 00:42:44,030
carbon or something, and then you'll there's thousands

1126
00:42:44,090 --> 00:42:45,869
of songs, parodies mostly,

1127
00:42:47,130 --> 00:42:49,690
that you can find. And there's there's other

1128
00:42:49,690 --> 00:42:51,469
groups. There's there's the Cernettes.

1129
00:42:52,265 --> 00:42:54,664
Right? So the Cernettes was a group at

1130
00:42:54,664 --> 00:42:55,164
CERN.

1131
00:42:56,505 --> 00:43:00,204
They're not that scientifically accurate. There's Astro Capella

1132
00:43:00,265 --> 00:43:03,085
is another group that sings science songs,

1133
00:43:03,545 --> 00:43:05,869
and they're accurate. So, I mean, there's actually

1134
00:43:05,929 --> 00:43:07,949
people gigging and doing work,

1135
00:43:09,849 --> 00:43:10,349
about,

1136
00:43:10,969 --> 00:43:13,609
science, but typically for a general audience, you

1137
00:43:13,609 --> 00:43:16,809
know, for children. There's two you know that

1138
00:43:16,809 --> 00:43:19,389
song, the sun is the mass of incandescent

1139
00:43:19,609 --> 00:43:22,135
gas. It was covered by they might be

1140
00:43:22,135 --> 00:43:23,675
giants. You know that song?

1141
00:43:24,454 --> 00:43:26,315
It's a great song, but it was written

1142
00:43:26,694 --> 00:43:28,635
by it was the same guys who wrote

1143
00:43:28,694 --> 00:43:29,755
Unchained Melody,

1144
00:43:30,375 --> 00:43:32,474
and they also wrote albums,

1145
00:43:33,014 --> 00:43:34,234
albums of

1146
00:43:34,710 --> 00:43:35,210
songs

1147
00:43:35,510 --> 00:43:38,550
on science, and they're spectacular. Like, they wrote

1148
00:43:38,550 --> 00:43:39,849
them in the sixties.

1149
00:43:41,269 --> 00:43:42,809
Lou Zinger and Hizeret

1150
00:43:43,349 --> 00:43:45,349
is their name. You gotta look it up.

1151
00:43:45,349 --> 00:43:47,130
Like, they're spec I've covered several

1152
00:43:47,505 --> 00:43:48,484
of their songs,

1153
00:43:49,744 --> 00:43:50,964
in my show, like,

1154
00:43:51,984 --> 00:43:54,164
what does the glass of a greenhouse

1155
00:43:54,464 --> 00:43:57,505
do? It doesn't let the long heat waves

1156
00:43:57,505 --> 00:43:59,744
pass through. I mean, they're just they're for

1157
00:43:59,744 --> 00:44:02,304
kids, but they're fantastic songs. Like, they're really

1158
00:44:02,660 --> 00:44:04,420
and they have songs about the stratosphere and

1159
00:44:04,420 --> 00:44:06,820
I've sung I've used them all. Tom Lear.

1160
00:44:06,820 --> 00:44:08,119
He's probably the first

1161
00:44:09,140 --> 00:44:12,579
person to sing about science, and he he

1162
00:44:12,579 --> 00:44:13,719
was also an activist.

1163
00:44:14,019 --> 00:44:16,680
Right? So he also wrote about bombs.

1164
00:44:17,765 --> 00:44:19,385
He was, I think he was a Quaker.

1165
00:44:20,005 --> 00:44:21,385
God bless the Quakers.

1166
00:44:22,005 --> 00:44:22,505
So,

1167
00:44:22,805 --> 00:44:24,744
you know, I think he was the first,

1168
00:44:25,285 --> 00:44:26,025
and then

1169
00:44:26,405 --> 00:44:26,905
the,

1170
00:44:28,085 --> 00:44:28,744
you know,

1171
00:44:29,364 --> 00:44:31,364
Hi Zaret and Lou Zinger, their names are

1172
00:44:31,364 --> 00:44:32,025
so great,

1173
00:44:33,030 --> 00:44:34,410
did albums full.

1174
00:44:34,869 --> 00:44:37,750
And then They Might Be Giants covered one

1175
00:44:37,750 --> 00:44:39,269
of their songs. And so, I mean, I

1176
00:44:39,269 --> 00:44:41,030
really haven't you know, I guess I could

1177
00:44:41,030 --> 00:44:42,890
do a PhD on this, like,

1178
00:44:44,869 --> 00:44:46,949
someday. But there is, like, a history of

1179
00:44:46,949 --> 00:44:49,264
it. I haven't really seen anyone

1180
00:44:49,964 --> 00:44:50,464
doing

1181
00:44:50,764 --> 00:44:53,244
cabaret. Like, I mean, my goal when I

1182
00:44:53,244 --> 00:44:55,164
went to get my PhD in New York

1183
00:44:55,164 --> 00:44:58,605
and have a book deal in 02/2001

1184
00:44:58,605 --> 00:45:00,385
was that I was gonna go to Broadway

1185
00:45:00,684 --> 00:45:03,969
and do, you know, Cosmic Cabaret on Broadway.

1186
00:45:03,969 --> 00:45:05,829
That was that was my goal.

1187
00:45:06,210 --> 00:45:08,769
And I'd wanted to have a doctorate because,

1188
00:45:08,769 --> 00:45:10,789
you know, I think because it legitimizes

1189
00:45:11,170 --> 00:45:14,130
you. And I was doing pedagogy, actually. So

1190
00:45:14,130 --> 00:45:15,589
I was doing science pedagogy.

1191
00:45:16,289 --> 00:45:17,750
So you you're an activist.

1192
00:45:18,255 --> 00:45:19,394
You're a scientist.

1193
00:45:19,775 --> 00:45:20,914
You're a science communicator.

1194
00:45:21,855 --> 00:45:24,114
If you if you could use one song

1195
00:45:24,654 --> 00:45:27,135
to fix one problem in the world, what

1196
00:45:27,135 --> 00:45:29,694
would you sing about to fix? It's the

1197
00:45:29,694 --> 00:45:30,755
Love On song

1198
00:45:31,135 --> 00:45:32,275
that, you know,

1199
00:45:33,019 --> 00:45:34,859
I just you have to believe in love.

1200
00:45:34,859 --> 00:45:35,679
Like, compassion,

1201
00:45:35,980 --> 00:45:36,480
empathy

1202
00:45:37,179 --> 00:45:38,719
is something that

1203
00:45:39,099 --> 00:45:40,159
physics can't

1204
00:45:40,460 --> 00:45:40,960
describe.

1205
00:45:41,260 --> 00:45:43,119
Right? So I you know, ultimately,

1206
00:45:43,579 --> 00:45:46,079
even though I do sing about science,

1207
00:45:46,994 --> 00:45:48,755
if I want to try to save the

1208
00:45:48,755 --> 00:45:50,514
world, the best thing I can do is

1209
00:45:50,514 --> 00:45:53,654
try to provoke empathy and compassion in people,

1210
00:45:54,434 --> 00:45:56,775
whether you're a scientist or not a scientist.

1211
00:46:11,394 --> 00:46:11,974
That mediates

1212
00:46:12,595 --> 00:46:14,055
the force of love

1213
00:46:14,434 --> 00:46:16,835
But you can't measure it You can only

1214
00:46:16,835 --> 00:46:19,715
feel it Pulling on the super strings of

1215
00:46:19,715 --> 00:46:22,035
your heart We should add it to the

1216
00:46:22,035 --> 00:46:25,394
standard model chart The force that rules from

1217
00:46:25,394 --> 00:46:26,135
high above

1218
00:46:26,589 --> 00:46:27,409
in a unified

1219
00:46:27,710 --> 00:46:28,690
field theory

1220
00:46:28,989 --> 00:46:29,969
of love.

1221
00:46:32,269 --> 00:46:34,109
I'd like to thank Linda very much for

1222
00:46:34,109 --> 00:46:35,550
talking to me and wish you the very

1223
00:46:35,550 --> 00:46:38,109
best of luck for that tour. If you'd

1224
00:46:38,109 --> 00:46:39,869
like to find out more about the tour,

1225
00:46:39,869 --> 00:46:41,614
maybe get some tickets and go along to

1226
00:46:41,614 --> 00:46:45,534
it, Linda's website is scintainment.com.

1227
00:46:45,534 --> 00:46:47,474
So if you think about science and entertainment,

1228
00:46:47,614 --> 00:46:50,175
combine those two words, scintainment.com.

1229
00:46:50,175 --> 00:46:51,775
But if you struggle with that, we'll, of

1230
00:46:51,775 --> 00:46:53,534
course, post a link to it on the

1231
00:46:53,534 --> 00:46:54,594
Physics World website,

1232
00:46:55,430 --> 00:46:56,329
physicsworld.com,

1233
00:46:56,789 --> 00:46:58,630
and we'll be back next month with something

1234
00:46:58,630 --> 00:47:00,789
else from this wonderful world of physics. Thank

1235
00:47:00,789 --> 00:47:02,570
you very much for listening.

1236
00:47:19,324 --> 00:47:19,824
Fundamentally,

1237
00:47:20,684 --> 00:47:22,144
you know, love on, baby.