Welcome to Mike Pomranz (dot com)
- For Mike Pomeranz (baseball announcer), see Mike Pomeranz (real Wikipedia)
Michael Aaron Pomranz (born April 3, 1979) is an American writer, comedian, musician, beer expert, food & wine specialist, Certified Cider Professional, DJ, and underappreciated songsmith based in Sheffield, England, and professionally established in New York, New York. This is his official website/blog.
About
An autobiographical analysis of the location of my body throughout time:
In the late ’70s, I was born in the suburbs of St. Louis, Missouri, against my will. Things were nice there, but I yearned for more. I spent a lot of time drinking Mr. Mistys at the local DQ.
My formative years were spent in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, as my parents continued their moving tour of American suburbia (this time landing just outside of Philadelphia). Blue Bell (formerly Pigeontown) was a wonderful, idyllic place with an amazing pizza shop called Palermo’s.
To further my education, I began studying film production at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California. During my late teens and early 20s, I spent many years in and around the Los Angeles area. In retrospect, I have no idea why. Maybe because it was so close to Las Vegas?
In the early 2000s, I returned to the Philadelphia area, this time choosing to live within the city limits, as my time spent living in downtown LA taught me that if you want to meet freaks, you gotta be in the city. I guess, at first, it wasn’t really a choice… I crashed on a couch for 9 months. But eventually, I landed on Spruce St. in Center City and truly found happiness. Happiness was primarily located at a bar named Chaucer’s that has since been sold, renovated and renamed. You truly can’t go home again.
Eventually, I realized that my whole life I was simply trying to move to Brooklyn. So in 2008, I moved to Brooklyn.
Despite the obvious joys of living in New York City’s finest borough, after spending eight years divided between the wonderful neighborhoods of Prospect Heights and Park Slope, a marriage and the birth of my son left our newly established family interested in exploring our roots, so we decided to take up residence in Sheffield, England. The Peaks are beautiful, aren’t they? (Don’t ask me. I rarely go there.)
Come say, “Hi.” You might find me drinking cask ale at The Beer House on Eccy Road. But maybe not.
Writing
Michael Pomranz is a versatile writer and editor who began working professionally in 2004.
His work has appeared in a wide array of places including Food & Wine, Comedy Central, TIME, Tasting Table, Playboy, Eater, MTV, AOL, People, VinePair, Yahoo, Travel + Leisure, Huffington Post, Extra Crispy, Fatherly, Nickelodeon, truTV and Everyday with Rachel Ray.
His diverse interests have inspired him to cover a broad range of topics such as the largest fast food chains you have never heard of, ranking every David Bowie album ever released, interviewing some of America’s best brewers, and Rebecca Black’s “Friday” (the popularity of which he was proudly credited with launching). His style is an impassioned mix of factual accuracy, sharp wit, and unwanted opinions.
Mike has also written for TV and film, including developing a sitcom concept with Fox TV, optioning a children’s pilot, and co-writing a feature film treatment. In 2015, he co-created, co-wrote, and executive produced the web series, Roommates. He also has a pile of original pilot and feature film scripts stacked up in his house he’d like you to come over and purchase.
Comedy
With his intelligent mix of personal anecdotes, absurdist insights, and otherworldly perspectives, Brooklyn’s Mike Pomranz has become a mildly-notable, semi-regular performer within stand-up comedy circles. Whether discussing the recent paucity of bearded presidents or a trip to the Whole Food’s beer department, Mike plays to his audiences strengths while pandering to their weaknesses.
I first performed stand-up comedy at an open mic at the Westwood Brewing Company in Los Angeles, California, in 2001. Displaying a lack of confidence, delivering poorly-conceived material, and sporting a terrible haircut, I performed inadequately. This went on for quite some time. My comedy career came to a self-imposed halt after being yanked from a stage in North Hollywood while performing September 11th jokes on September 12th, 2001.
By 2005, I was back, this time nervously meandering through weak open mic sets in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Though my delivery was still shaky-at-best, my material had improved and I finally gained the confidence to try my hand at the “big time” — doing a seven minute set at the secondary stage of the Laugh Factory in New York City. Thinking this to be the apex of my comedy career, I abruptly retired for the second time.
But by 2008, I had finally decided, “Fuck it.” At the ripe-old and borderline-unsuccessful age of 29, I moved to Brooklyn to pursue comedy full time. Part of that career path would involve me tackling my biggest comedic demon… stand-up.
Everything went better than expected!
I deliver dynamic, high-brow and high-energy shows and strive to be one of the scene’s most refreshing voices.
A very limited selection of performance videos is available on my YouTube page. I apologize that these videos can best be described as “not great.”
Music
World Blanket
Armed with the traditional folk rock instrumentation of vocals, violin, acoustic guitar, bass, and drums, World Blanket layers elements of noise experimentation, punk aesthetics, and classical orchestration onto indie rock songs built of modern pop, classic rock, and psychedelic thought.
World Blanket was formed in Philadelphia in 2005 when childhood friends Michael Pomranz and Grant Whittaker, together with bassist Mark Henasey, decided to scrap all the material their current project was performing and start from scratch. Unhappy with the direction the band was headed, the group sought a string player who could re-energize their sound. Violinist Jon Dunn was recruited and the new lineup was christened World Blanket — named after a childhood blankie Pomranz had recently had stolen from him.
“World Blanket boomed like a big-riff rock beast, despite acoustic guitar and violin dressing.” – SPIN
Around this time, Pomranz penned the song “Cold, Lonely” — a tune he claimed was indicative this new direction. It became World Blanket’s inaugural song, appearing on their debut album aMaybe, and has helped guide the project’s musical direction since.
World Blanket made their live debut on February 12, 2006 at Philadelphia’s legendary, but now defunct rock club, The Khyber.
While recording their first album (aMaybe, released October 10, 2006 on No Applause Records), the band quickly realized that to achieve the full vision of their sound they would need instrumentation beyond their original violin, acoustic guitar, bass, and drums lineup. These recording sessions quickly established the dynamic of World Blanket allowing themselves to have a fluid and rotating cast of “members.” It also began the dichotomy between the group’s orchestrated studio albums and their more bare-boned, rollicking, and often unpredictable live shows.
On September 22, 2008, the band released its second album, Elevator, now featuring Jon Solomon on bass and marking the group’s first time working with producer Darren Morze who would continue to be a major influence on subsequent recordings.
“Warm, violin-driven Americana keeps the listener consistently on their toes, never knowing what to expect next.” – Foxy Digitalis
By 2012, Pomranz (having relocated to Brooklyn) remained the lone original member of the group as World Blanket released their aptly-titled third album, 2012. Recorded in Los Angeles with Pete Min and produced by Morze, 2012 was a benchmark for the group both in sound and songwriting.
Released on April 3 — the twelfth anniversary of mushroom guru Terence McKenna’s death — 2012 featured violinist Kat Fong, bassist Dean Moore, and drummer Jonathan Flax. The record also saw significant contributions from The Calder Quartet. The psychedelically-tinged album expanded the group’s dedication to existential lyrical exploration and heady production.
Since the release of their third album, World Blanket has continued to play the occasional live show or be represented with material at Mike Pomranz’s solo acoustic shows. As of 2018, at least one new song is still in the works and a band retrospective album is in the planning stages.
[written 10.7.2013, revised 12.5.2018]
Learn more about The World Blanket at www.worldblanket.com or download their music for free at www.noapplause.com.
The Nuck Fuggets
Imagine The Flight of the Conchords as done by The White Stripes if they had the stage presence of The Beastie Boys but were backed by beats that sounded somewhere between Danger Mouse and a moderately-priced karaoke machine. Then we rush through our set like The Ramones ’cause we want to get drunker than Led Zeppelin in their prime.
PRESS:
“You’re in luck if you like your songs loaded with innuendo and incredibly straightforward hooks (”Everybody wants/ sex and hamburgers”). The Brooklyn–based Nuck Fuggets only occasionally have decent lyrics, but fortunately the beats are much more frequently catchy and danceable.” – PHILADELPHIA WEEKLY
“As the party gets under way, the prospects look grim…for the second act, an ironic dance-pop duo from Brooklyn called the Nuck Fuggets.” – NEW YORK MAGAZINE
“I have never listened to The Nuck Fuggets, but if the music is half as good as the name, this will be an awesome show.” – NEW YORK PRESS
“We met The Realest People in Brooklyn, aka, The Nuck Fuggets. They’re an electro-comedy-esque duo that put on a show with so much energy…Mitch and I decided to tell them that we had designated them with this title, and I hope that they received it sincerely.” – SEA OF TREES
“[I] like The Nuck Fuggets. I can really connect with this tune [‘Penis N Balls’] in the same way I felt when I heard ‘Yellow’ by Coldplay.” – KENNEDY
Learn more about The Nuck Fuggets at www.thenuckfuggets.com or watch performance videos on their YouTube page.
Other Musical Endeavors
Additional bullet points summarizing Mike’s musical endeavors:
- Mike is proprietor of No Applause Records
- Mike formerly fronted the rock trio, Erron Olive
- Mike has created recorded music under a number of project names including The Fellers, The Original Fellers Revival, The Nelson A. Rockefeller Foundation, The Future Sellouts of America, Drug Fun Rage Ghost and Bacchanalia
- Mike has performed solo acoustic shows all across the country
DJing
DJ Mike Pomranz has distinguished himself from other disc jockeys not by focusing on a specific style, but by the vastness of his digital music collection and his uncanny ability to find common threads throughout decades, genres, lyrics, songs, sounds, and grooves.
He began working professionally in New York City in 2013, at the time bringing his eclectic approach exclusively to the music of 1970s. He took on a weekly gig at Brooklyn’s infamous Coco 66, amusing Greenpoint locals with his unpredictable swings between California AOR, Ethio jazz, Alabama soul, German prog, and beyond.
He quickly landed another weekly spot at the beloved Manhattan punk bar Ding Dong Lounge where he gave his love of the ’70s a hard rock twist, aligning with the venue’s vibe by sticking to the more raucous sounds of artists like Pere Ubu and The Sensational Alex Harvey Band. During this time, DJ MP was also known for occasionally spinning entire nights dedicated to Guided By Voices.
While living in New York, DJ Mike Pomranz also took up regular stints at locations such as Threes Brewing, Beauty Bar, and The Royal Palms.
Now based in Sheffield, England, DJ Mike Pomranz has broadened his musical horizons to include over 3,000 artists across six decades. He creates an immersive listening experience by mixing in the occasionally head-turning hit with lost tracks by the forgotten greats of rock, soul, R&B, jazz, indie, hip-hop, lounge, funk, and disco — all without forgetting to keep things international by adding the occasional afrobeat, Andalusian rock or even Balkan folk track.
He’s also happy to cater his musical journeys to whatever specifications your occasion requires.
Oh, and he’s even done a couple weddings for the coolest people on Earth...
Beer
I am nationally notable beer writer, connoisseur, enthusiast, and occasional homebrewer.
My beer-related work has appeared in print in Food & Wine and TIME. It has also appeared digitally pretty much everywhere else you can think of.
I consider my wheelhouse to be pale ales, of which my favorites are Yard’s Philadelphia, Drake’s 1500, and Cloudwater. Though I will always have a soft spot in my heart for Pyramid Apricot Ale.
And as mentioned above, I occasionally dabble in award-winning homebrewing.
Contact
Contact me at mikepomranz (dot) com (at) mikepomranz (dot) com.