Welcome to another Geek Gala Entertainment Spotlight for 2018! Today, we are delighted to introduce you to another great entertainer, Gray Rinehart, as part of the entertainment at the Muggles Market during the day before our tenth annual Geek Gala! Gray Rinehart took a few minutes to answer some questions about his music and general geekery.
About Gray Rinehart
Gray Rinehart writes fiction, nonfiction, and music. He is the only person to have commanded an Air Force satellite tracking station, written speeches for Presidential appointees, and had music on The Dr. Demento Show. He is currently a contributing editor (the “Slushmaster General”) for Baen Books.
Gray is the author of the near-future science fiction novel “Walking on the Sea of Clouds”, and his short fiction has appeared in Analog Science Fiction & Fact, Asimov’s Science Fiction, Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show, and multiple anthologies. He is also a singer/songwriter with two albums of mostly science-fiction-and-fantasy-inspired music.
During his rather odd USAF career, Gray fought rocket propellant fires, refurbished space launch facilities, “flew” Milstar satellites, drove trucks, processed nuclear command and control orders, commanded the largest remote tracking station in the Air Force Satellite Control Network, and did other interesting things. His alter ego is the Gray Man, one of several famed ghosts of South Carolina’s Grand Strand
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- How would you describe your musical or performance style to someone who has never heard you before?
I guess my style is folk-rock or soft-rock, although it may be a stretch to call any of what I do “rock.” 😊 From a songwriting perspective, I often try to evoke a Dan Fogelberg feel … but I’m not prepared to say I ever achieve it!
- How would you describe your musical or performance style to someone who has never heard you before?
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- What is your most recent project, either currently in progress or recently completed?
My most recent CD is ‘Distorted Vision’, which (like my first CD) has a mix of science fiction and fantasy songs as well as some others that are more “general” in nature.
- What is your most recent project, either currently in progress or recently completed?
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- If you could form a super group with two other performers, bands, or musicians (real or fictional) throughout time and space, who would it be and why?
That’s a tough one! So many to choose from. I think I would definitely include Dan Fogelberg, for the depth of feeling he was able to put into his songs. For the second, I’m torn between Rush, for the intelligence and creativity they put into their songs, and Kansas, for the mix of instruments they used.
- If you could form a super group with two other performers, bands, or musicians (real or fictional) throughout time and space, who would it be and why?
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- So this year’s Geek Gala theme is “Gears and Ghouls”, and focuses on steampunk and day of the dead cosplay. If you could have one body part cybernetically enhanced or replaced, what would you choose, how would you want it changed, and why?
Wow, another tough question! I’m tempted to say my legs, because my hip has been giving me fits, but I think probably my brain: my memory’s not what it used to be, and I could use some more processing power up there! - Where can we listen to your work and buy your music and/or other products?
My songs are on Spotify, and I’d be pleased to be added to anyone’s playlist! All my music is also on Bandcamp.
My novel, Walking on the Sea of Clouds, is available on Amazon.
- So this year’s Geek Gala theme is “Gears and Ghouls”, and focuses on steampunk and day of the dead cosplay. If you could have one body part cybernetically enhanced or replaced, what would you choose, how would you want it changed, and why?
Find Gray Rinehart on the Interwebz!
And make plans to come visit him on Saturday, November 3 at this year’s Muggles Market!
