Job Description with Rick Koster
Do you ever find yourself wondering about an intriguingly obscure or maybe intricate job? Or “I didn’t even know people did that.” My name is Rick Koster, and I don’t do many things with fluency, so when i meet someone who has a really interesting gig or does something really well, it’s a privilege to talk to them. Job Description is a new podcast from The Day where we do exactly that, talk to folks who do things the rest of us could only screw up.
Episodes
July 13, 2023 • 26 mins
Florida-based beekeeper Patrick Gaudin has removed thousands of bees from people's homes, and now has 15-20 bee colonies living in his own back yard. Check out his website and his videos of bee removals.
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June 29, 2023 • 39 mins
We talk with Joshua Pendragon, an independent researcher for the Oxford English Dictionary, about how new words are added to the dictionary, the challenges of researching obscure words, and the evolving nature of language. ***This episode was originally released in August 2020***
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June 15, 2023 • 38 mins
Artem Belogurov is an internationally-known professional musician who specializes in historical keyboard instruments. He talks with Rick about how a young person makes a connection to the music and instruments of the past, and what kind of merch a classical artist could be selling.
Learn more about his music at https://www.artembelogurovmusic.com/
Check out his ensemble Postscript (and his yellow pants) at https://www.postscriptens...
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June 1, 2023 • 18 mins
What's on the bottom of the sea and why do we need to map it? Bob Wallace of Ocean Surveys, Inc. takes Rick on a tour of the ocean's depths.
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May 18, 2023 • 35 mins
We commonly describe something easy to do by saying "it's not brain surgery." This week, we talk to neurosurgeon Patrick Doherty about what it's like to operate on someone's brain.
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May 4, 2023 • 28 mins
Guitarist James Young reflects on more than 50 years with the band Styx in advance of their May 13 concert at Foxwoods Resort Casino.
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April 20, 2023 • 21 mins
Okay, maybe it's not rocket science, but fluid dynamics seems like an equally incomprehensible field, so we enlisted mechanical engineer Jaime Duquette to try to explain the discipline, including how you really can put the toothpaste back in the tube. Jaime, who studied fluid dynamics in college, did his best to dumb it down enough so Rick could understand the difference between the Froude number and Euler angles.
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April 6, 2023 • 34 mins
Myles Karp once ate a mango so good it made him cry. An American journalist and consultant now based in Costa Rica, Karp talks about roaming the Central American jungles in search of a superior banana, and the many other exotic fruits that one is unlikely to find in your local supermarket.
https://www.myleskarp.com/
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March 28, 2023 • 59 secs
Do you ever find yourself wondering about an intriguingly obscure or maybe intricate job? Or “I didn’t even know people did that.” My name is Rick Koster, and I don’t do many things with fluency, so when i meet someone who has a really interesting gig or does something really well, it’s a privilege to talk to them. Job Description is a new podcast from The Day where we do exactly that, talk to folks who do things the rest of us cou...
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November 1, 2021 • 13 mins
In this edition of Leave Work NOW, Koster does just that and ruminates whilst ironing a suit to wear to the funeral of Dave Schulz - as fine a chum as a fella could hope for.
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October 7, 2021 • 34 mins
The piano/painting duo Pocket Vinyl released their latest album "Winter Person" in 2020, but but are just now getting to celebrate with an album release party. We talk with Eric Stevenson about songwriting, recording, and the companion book and ambient album that accompany "Winter Person."
https://pocketvinyl.com/
Pocket Vinyl on Bandcamp
The Touring Test web comic
Lucifer and the Predetermined Timeline
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September 20, 2021 • 21 mins
Rick and Peter talk with local radio host Lee Elci, a former minor league baseball player, about what it takes to face professional pitchers. Rick, Peter and Lee took some swings in the cages against mid-90s fastballs from a pitching machine, and Rick was about as successful as you would imagine he was.
Video of Rick trying to hit in the cage
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September 3, 2021 • 45 mins
"Road of Bones" is the 16th book in James R. Benn's series of Billy Boyle World War II mystery novels. Benn talks with Rick Koster about the historical backdrop for the novel, writing during the solitude of the pandemic, and the dark history of Russia's real life Road of Bones.
"Road of Bones" will be released on September 7, 2021 with a book signing at Bank Square Books in Mystic, CT.
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August 26, 2021 • 27 mins
An appreciation of an all-time great rock and roll drummer.
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July 29, 2021 • 37 mins
Joe Bouchard talks about his years with Blue Öyster Cult, getting royalty checks from Metallica, and meeting Rick Koster at an Imagine Dragons show. Bouchard and his brother Albert, founding members of Blue Öyster Cult, perform as The Bouchard Brothers at The Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center on Saturday, July 31.
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Ian McNulty, who grew up in South County, Rhode Island and is the food writer for The Times-Picayune/The Advocate, talked to Rick Koster about being a food critic in what some would call the greatest food city in America.
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June 25, 2021 • 22 mins
Live music exploded out onto street corners and open-air performance spaces in New London on international Make Music Day. We explored the wide variety of melodies and rhythms, meeting the energetic rapper Byrd StayLow, the Nickelodeon Barbershop Quartet covering pop classics, and improvisational pianist Jermaine Edwards.
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As the world reopens, the Hygienic Art Park hosted New Orleans pianist John ‘Papa’ Gros. Inspired by the experience, Rick Koster indulges in a bit of wistful but goofy nostalgia for the Crescent City.
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Thanks to your suggestions, we tried the crispy chicken sandwiches from Mr. G's, Olio, Engine Room, and Hot Rod Cafe.
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After meeting Rick Koster in a local pizza shop, John Jensen asked if Rick would listen to some of the songs he had written. Rick's positive feedback gave Jensen, in his 60s, the encouragement he needed to go into the studio for the first time and record an album with a full band of local musicians.
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