The Juice with Jeff

The Juice with Jeff #68

On this episode of the podcast, Katey (Sharpe) Hartzell conducts and co-produces a fabulous and really fun audio interview with me filled with lots and lots of two-way conversation throughout the interview. There were a whole bunch of  topics that Katey brought up with me about during the interview:

1. What is my middle name and who I was named after?

2. What is my favorite color?

3. What my favorite kinds of music are; along with examples of composers, musicians, and performers that I like in each of the genres of music that I love?

4. Have I ever played any musical instruments before, and what instrument I'd like to learn or re-learn how to play sometime?

5. Where I got my singing and musical abilities from, and how music plays an essential and critical role in my life?

6. What things I like to do for fun? Both the things I enjoy doing during normal circumstances, and also the things I enjoy doing during the COVID-19 pandemic that are within the physical distancing guidelines.

7. What kinds of books do I enjoy reading?

8. Various experiences that tie in to the books that I enjoy reading such as the Iowa State Fair, various places around the Des Moines/central Iowa area.

9. What are my favorite qualities in a person, and examples of how various friends have demonstrated these qualities to me at various points of my life.

10. What is my favorite cuisine? Whether it's something I cook at home or whether it's something I enjoy when I eat out at a restaurant. This episode was recorded on Friday October 9, 2020 and it runs 1 hour and 8 minutes. As is the case with all of the "The Juice with Jeff" podcasts, funding for this podcast is provided by Realty With Ahart and RandomKid. Enjoy!

The Juice with Jeff #67

On this episode of the podcast, Christa Anderson Beeler conducts and co-produces an outstanding and really fun audio interview with me filled with plenty of two-way conversation throughout the interview. There were several fun topics that Christa brought up with me about during the interview: She asked me about any other opportunities I've had (besides the Purim events that I went to at my synagogue in early March 2020) to wear my Mister Rogers wardrobe, and I respond by telling Christa about that one Friday night during the Summer of 2020 that I wore my Mister Rogers red zippered cardigan, etc.. at home with a selfie accompanying that opportunity; I talk about a laundry mishap I had when trying to do my red zippered cardigan in our washer at home where it ended up turning half of the laundry in that load pink; we then talk about the ways in which both Christa and I are enjoying doing the things we love doing during the COVID-19 pandemic that are in accordance with the physical distancing guidelines; and then Christa and I both share memories from the days we went to Valley High School (we both graduated from VHS during the mid 1990's).  This episode was recorded on Friday September 11, 2020 and it runs nearly 33 minutes. As is the case with all of the "The Juice with Jeff" podcasts, funding for this podcast is provided by Realty With Ahart and RandomKid. Enjoy!

The Juice with Jeff #66

On this episode of the podcast, Ann Kaatz LoBue conducts and co-produces a fantastic and superb audio interview with me filled with plenty of two-way conversation throughout the interview. There were several topics that Ann brought up with me during the interview including: My being autistic and how it affects or plays a significant role in my daily life, in fact I spend nearly the first 30 minutes of the podcast talking with Ann about my being autistic and how I frequently speak up about it. Then for the next 18 minutes I talk with Ann about my experiences and memories during the years that I was a Radio-TV Production major in the J School at Drake University between 1994-1998, and then Ann herself spends about five minutes sharing memories of her years as a Radio-TV Major in the J School at Drake. Then I talk with Ann for 15 minutes about how I have done event video production (for people in the Des Moines Jewish community) from time to time over the last 20 years, about how I regularly do audio production as a hobby and more about these "The Juice with Jeff" podcasts. Then during the last 20 minutes of the podcast, Ann asks me a couple questions about my talent of doing voice impersonations, and this is followed by my performing around 25 of my voice impersonations for Ann. The interview closes with Ann and I sharing our final thoughts.

This interview was recorded on Friday August 14, 2020 and it definitely is a FEATURE LENGTH podcast as it runs 1 hour and 33 minutes (93 minutes). As is the case with all of the "The Juice with Jeff" podcasts, funding for this podcast is provided by Realty With Ahart and RandomKid. Enjoy!

The Juice with Jeff #65

On this episode of the podcast, Courtney Work conducts and co-produces an fantastic, outstanding, and extremely fun audio interview with me filled with lots of two-way conversation throughout the interview. There were several topics that Courtney brought up with me during the interview such as: The 30+ years that I was a patient at her father's (John Work o.b.m.) dental office when he was there and how I'm still an extremely happy and very satisfied patient at the same dental office under Dr. Issac Clair and Dr. Andrew Majeran; a couple fond memories I have of Courtney's father; how I love staying connected and talking with friends thru phone/FB Messenger/etc.. and how during normal times (when there isn't a pandemic such as COVID-19) I love spending time with friends whenever the opportunities come; my intense love of music and to some extent singing; more about these podcasts, my intense passion and love for Fred Rogers o.b.m./Mister Rogers' Neighborhood; cooking; and I perform quite a few of my voice impersonations for Courtney during the last 15 to 20 minutes of the interview. This interview was recorded on Saturday August 8, 2020 and it definitely meets FEATURE LENGTH criteria as it runs 1 hour and 27 minutes (87 minutes). As is the case with all of the "The Juice with Jeff" podcasts, funding for this podcast is provided by Realty With Ahart and RandomKid. Enjoy!

The Juice with Jeff #64

On this episode of the podcast, Lindsey Isker Pletcher conducts and co-produces an excellent and extremely fun audio interview with me filled with lots of two-way conversation throughout the interview. There are several topics that Lindsey brought up during the interview. We spend nearly the entire first 60 minutes of the podcast talking about Fred Rogers o.b.m., Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, and the "A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood" movie starring Tom Hanks; and I explain the multiple reasons why I have an intense love/passion/interest for Mister Rogers' Neighborhood and Fred Rogers. Then we briefly talk about Star Trek and a couple other classic TV shows. After that, the subject of autism and my being autistic comes up. Next we bring up a some things about dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic and physical distancing, and I talk about the several strategies I use to help me stay positive and keep my mental health in check during the pandemic. We then talk about my "The Juice With Jeff" podcast series and Lindsey talks about a Star Trek theme podcast series that she co-hosted with her husband Josh a while back. And then for most of the remaining 22 minutes of the podcast, I perform 40 of my voice impersonations for Lindsey. The podcast concludes with final thoughts from both Lindsey and me. This interview was recorded on Saturday July 18, 2020 and it definitely is a FEATURE LENGTH podcast as it runs 1 hour and 45 minutes (105 minutes). As is the case with all of the "The Juice with Jeff" podcasts, funding for this podcast is provided by Realty With Ahart and RandomKid. Enjoy!

The Juice with Jeff #63

On this episode of the podcast, Angie Tessau conducts and co-produces an excellent audio interview with me. Angie brings up a bunch of topics and asks me questions on a bunch of topics including: How I've been doing with the COVID-19 pandemic and how I'm dealing with things in terms of COVID-19, the physical distancing recommendations, and the usual everyday things on my plate that I have to deal with; what I do to stay positive and keep my mental health in check; how does my Judaism contribute in terms of how I'm handling the pandemic; what are my favorite foods to cook and how I learned to do the cooking that I do; the results from the latest lab work that was done on me in terms of my health; how my job is going, and where I get the ideas for the inspirational quotes that I share on Facebook. We conclude the interview with Angie and I sharing memories from our Valley High School days. This interview was recorded on the afternoon of Friday July 17, 2020 and it runs 42 minutes. As is the case with all of the "The Juice with Jeff" podcasts, funding for this podcast is provided by Realty With Ahart and RandomKid. Enjoy!!

The Juice with Jeff #62

On this episode of the podcast, Lilianna Bernstein conducts and co-produces an awesome audio interview with me. Lilianna brings up and asks me questions on a wide variety of topics such as: how I'm handling things in the midst of COVID-19 and the physical distancing recommendations, what effect the pandemic is having on my life and the things I do to help me stay positive and to keep my mental health in check, if I could go back thru Drake University and do my college education again would I do the same thing or study/major in something totally different, a few tidbits about my Drake days, what activities would I like to do (or do more of) if I didn't have to worry about being on standby for my parents or didn't have any restrictions to worry about, memories I have from the time I spent in the land of Israel during the summer of 1993, and I perform several of my voice impersonations for Lilianna. This interview was recorded on the night of Tuesday June 30, 2020 and it runs 1 hour and 4 minutes (64 minutes). As is the case with all of the "The Juice with Jeff" podcasts, funding for this podcast is provided by Realty With Ahart and RandomKid. Enjoy!!

The Juice with Jeff #61

On this episode of the podcast, Heidi Gojkovich conducts and co-produces an excellent and fun audio interview with me. Heidi begins the interview by asking to talk about memories that stand out during my time at Drake and more specifically in the basement of Meredith Hall (the lower level of Meredith has the facilities for the Radio/TV/Video production classes and projects). I describe in detail a bunch of memories I have from my 4-1/2 years in the J School at Drake and with the audio and video production experiences I had during those years and then I talk about what I'm doing today. Heidi also shares a few memories she has during her 4 years in the J School at Drake. Then Heidi asks me to talk more about my cooking talent and what my favorite foods to make or cook are. Heidi then mentions that she and her husband Scott got to see me (for the first time in over 20 years) at a musical that I went to at the Civic Center of Greater Des Moines and asks me to talk about a favorite musical that I went to there; and I tell her about how I enjoy going with my sister to the Willis Broadway Series of 6 musicals per year at the Civic Center. Heidi then asks me to talk about the things that I do to help keep me positive in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and physical distancing guidelines that go with it. And then I perform 20 or so of my voice impersonations for Heidi. This interview was recorded on the night of Monday June 29, 2020 and it runs 1 hour and 7 minutes (67 minutes). As is the case with all of the "The Juice with Jeff" podcasts, funding for this podcast is provided by Realty With Ahart and RandomKid. Enjoy!!

The Juice with Jeff #60

On this episode of the podcast, Sandy Henry conducts and co-produces a fun and excellent audio interview with me. Sandy starts off the interview by asking me to talk about my 4-1/2 years (between 1994 to 1998) in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Drake University majoring in Radio-TV Production, and during that segment I first talk about the experience I had with my two years being on KWDM at Valley High School in West Des Moines (Iowa) prior to my Drake years, and I share memories from my 4-1/2 years at Drake's "J School". Then Sandy asks me about any things I learned in the Radio-TV Production track at Drake's J School that I still use today and I talk with her about what I have ended up doing in terms of work. I talk with her about how I have done (and still occasionally do) event video production as a hobby and about how I regularly do audio production as a hobby. Sandy then asks me to talk about how she's impressed with my cooking skills and what I do with that. my passion for food in general, and about what local restaurants I enjoy going to. And then I perform about 20 of my voice impersonations for Sandy. The last thing Sandy brings up during the interview is that she gives me an opportunity to offer a message to Todd Evans. Todd was one of the professors that I had during my years in the J School at Drake, he taught many broadcast courses at Drake for several decades and he officially retired from Drake in the spring of 2020. Sandy ends the interview with words of positivity. 

This interview was recorded on Friday June 26, 2020 and it runs 1 hour and 15 minutes (75 minutes). As is the case with all of the "The Juice with Jeff" podcasts, funding for this podcast is provided by Realty With Ahart and RandomKid. Enjoy!!

The Juice with Jeff #43

On this episode of the podcast, Michelle Parmita Voeller conducts and co-produces a fantastic audio interview with me. When this interview was recorded on April 15, 2020; there was a technical issue that came up on Zoom where for some reason, the recording conversion process from Zoom to my computer's hard drive could not be completed, so Michelle conducted/co-produced a second audio interview with me two days later where the recording conversion process from Zoom to my computer succeeded right away. But on the night of June 6, 2020, with the help of a couple websites I saw on the internet and thru watching a YouTube video; I was able to learn how to fix the problem with the Zoom recording conversion process involving the files from Michelle's original audio interview with me, complete the recording conversion process from the Zoom files of our interview to my computer, and then finally be able to share the interview here. During this audio interview, there are a whole bunch of topics that are brought up:

1.  The interview begins with Michelle asking me about how and when I got the idea to start the "The Juice with Jeff" podcast series and to have friends conduct/co-produce these audio interviews with me

2.  Then Michelle asks me to talk more about my strong emphasis on the importance of being kind to everyone and also in trying my very best to be positive/optimistic as much as possible.

3.  Then I ask Michelle to talk about how she decided to become a Yoga teacher and Reiki Master Teacher Practitioner.

4.  Michelle asks me to talk more about the Jewish festival of Pesah/Passover. There are several aspects of Passover that I talk about with Michelle:  The events in Jewish history that led to the observance of Pesah/Passover, why Pesah/Passover is celebrated, and the basics on what makes food Kosher or not Kosher for Pesah.

5. Michelle asks me about my interest in nutrition and I explain my thoughts on what I consider to be a healthy diet in terms of food without promoting a specific type of diet. I also talk with Michelle about my Acromegaly and about how I had to have two major surgeries in January 2016 to remove as much as possible of a really large tumor that was in my pituitary gland. I also talk about the importance of keeping our mental health in check and the importance of keeping our stress levels under control.

6. Michelle asks me to talk more about my really strong interest in music and I explain in detail how music is an extremely important and essential part of my life. Michelle also shares her thoughts on the importance of music.

7. Michelle asks me to talk about my interest in weather (as a hobby).

8. Michelle and I each share a couple fun and special memories we have from our Valley High School (West Des Moines, IA) days.

9. Toward the end of the interview, I perform 17 of my many voice impersonations for Michelle.

10. Michelle ends the interview with ends the interview with a message of positivity.

This interview was recorded on Wednesday April 15, 2020 and it runs 1 hour 2 minutes long (62 minutes). As is the case with all of the "The Juice with Jeff" podcasts, funding for this podcast is provided by Realty With Ahart and RandomKid. Enjoy!!