Dan Crane

Last Sunday on The Simpsons, Homer called me out. I may have to finally come out of retirement*. 

Björn Türoque officially retired in 2005, but vowed that if the US and World Air Guitar Championships were still going on when he turned 50, (he was certain they would not be) he would dust off his air guitar and give it one last go. Now that Homer has called him out, it seems the deal is sealed. Or is it…? 

Stay tuned, people. 

In this Wall Street Journal Travel article I write about the best vacation I can recall since my parents took me to Hawaii when I was 4. And actually, now that I think about it, that trip wasn’t so great…

Here’s a link to the story (requires a WSJ subscription) or view a PDF.

Soil is at the center of many of the most important stories of our time. It’s where we grow our food. It’s where we find our medicines. The microbes in soil outnumber the stars in the galaxy, and without them life above ground would be impossible. Climate change, desertification, colonizing Mars, the biggest pandemic you’ve never heard of—soil’s the unsung hero, or the villain hiding in plain sight.

There’s a saying: “Man has only a thin layer between himself and starvation.” It’s true, and it’s also about much more than that. Let us guide you on this journey through dirt.

Yes, I’m digging deep and scratching the surface on my next podcast. It’s about soil. There will be puns. But there will also be cool science-y stuff about all the crazy things going on in that thin layer of dirt that separates us from life and death: soil.

Like, did you know that there are more microbes living in a hand full of soil than there are stars in the galaxy? Pretty much every antibiotic we’ve ever found was first discovered in soil. And one-fifth of the world’s population is infected with a soil-borne parasitic worms. ONE-FIFTH!

More info about The Thin Layer, here.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Scottish actress Karen Gillan (Avengers: Infinity War, Jumanji, Guardians of the Galaxy, Dr. Who) for American Way, the American Airlines in-flight magazine, and she had the pleasure of watching me nearly choke to death on horseradish… Click here for a PDF.

I got naked and sweaty in Finland and then wrote about it.

Can religion exist without God? Is Jewish atheism an oxymoron? Find out on The Kibitz podcast.

I wrote this piece for Men’s Health magazine, which explains that women aren’t the only ones who need to get healthy when trying to conceive. The link between sperm health and fertility may be in sperm epigenetics…

I tell the story of two strangers in the night, a bag full of cash, and a ship full of weapons bound for the fledgling state of Israel in this special episode dedicated to Frank Sinatra’s jewish activism.

In 1945, Frank Sinatra made “The House I Live In”, a short film in which he confronts a gang of kids bullying a Jewish boy and tells them to stop being Nazis and start being American. It’s disturbingly relevant today. In this episode I also talk about the film, and Frank’s lifelong commitment to #antisemitism.

Guests: Anthony Summers, David Lehman, Shalom Goldman, Paul Karolyi, and Tony Michaels.

The House I Live In (1945) – shockingly relevant today, considering what’s been going on in the world…

There’s no air in outer space. Or is there?

Jump ahead to getting the air circulating, with the help of some locals and Nordic Thunder:

From BREAKGROUND Magazine: JPL just designed a way to find exoplanets by staring at the sun, with a little help from some cutting edge origami.

This is a piece I wrote about a new, very cool NASA program in development at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA.

My band Ray & Remora has a new full-length album of 11 original tunes coming out September 16. Here’s what BuzzBandsLA had to say about it:

“It’s smart, evocative dream-pop that at times recalls the likes of Camera Obscura, Saint Etienne, (certain periods of) Yo La Tengo and, on the opening track “The Happening,” Belle & Sebastian…File under: New indie-pop sophisticates.”
— BuzzBandsLA (Kevin Bronson)

With British nationalism on the rise in England, I tasted my way through four of London’s oldest, most gustatorily patriotic restaurants—and learned to eat ‘stewed cheese’ along the way. Here’s your guide…

David Wain – (Wet Hot American Summer, Role Models) who reveals the origins of his beefy-calved Israeli character Yaron in Netflix’s Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp, and gives a shoutout about his summit experience.