[music]

Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. Okay to your calls on what you're looking forward to or what you're hopeful about in 2022. Let's start with Rebecca in Bayonne. Rebecca, you're on WNYC. Happy New Year.

Rebecca: Happy New Year, Brian. We are so looking forward to a concert we just bought tickets for in Saratoga, an outdoor concert with Allison Krause and Robert Plant. It's in the personal and arts category, but I'll tell you, the thought of being out there in the springtime with people is going to get me through the winter.

Brian Lehrer: I love them together, Robert Plant and Allison Krause. Is that at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center?

Rebecca: I think it is. My husband bought the tickets but we saw them at the Kennedy Center together, and they're incredible.

Brian Lehrer: That's great that they're coming to Spark. I didn't even know they sell tickets this far in advance for the summer season at Saratoga, so that is great. That is something to look forward to, and that can give us a little hope here on what's supposed to be the first snowfall in our area today potentially. How about Kevin in Brooklyn who's also got a music one, I think. Hi Kevin, you're on WNYC. Happy New Year.

Kevin: Hi, Brian. Happy New Year. I'm a long-time listener, first-time caller. I have an album that I've postponed the release of for my band, Hot Hand Band. It's a brass band and we're releasing our album this year. Also, on New Year's eve, I got engaged.

Brian Lehrer: Oh, congratulations.

Kelvin: I'll be getting married this year hopefully as well. It's going to be a big year, lots to look forward to.

Brian Lehrer: That is great. Now, tell me about that brass band. What kind of stuff do you do? I happen to be a fan of Window Ensembles of various kinds, which puts me in a very small minority of humans on the earth but tell me about your brass band, tell everybody about it.

Kelvin: Absolutely. We're about a seven-piece brass band and we also feature a tap dancer. We do a lot of soul music and we have vocal guests, so the album will have several vocal guests. Our live performances feature a tap dancer. If you want to find out more, you can find us at Hot Hand Band on Instagram. We do a lot of private parties and corporate events and that kind of stuff as well.

Brian Lehrer: Hot Hand Band by the newly engaged Kevin in Brooklyn. Kevin, thank you very much. Good luck with all of it. Joanna in Dobbs Ferry, you're on WNYC. Hi, Joanna. Happy New Year to you.

Joanna: Hi I've never been on your show before, and I'm in the middle of printing wallpaper but I'm going to talk. The best thing I can do that I really look forward to is leaving as little imprints on the world as possible, which means recycling my food, putting in the compost, buying all my clothes at a thrift shop that was in a church that was founded by Washington Irving down the street. If I have clothes I don't want, I don't throw them out, I recycle them. Absolutely not buying anything new. I refused to buy anything new. I had a broken toaster, I managed to wait long enough and found one at the thrift shop. That's what I look forward to doing.

Brian Lehrer: That is wonderful. That's like the New Year's resolution wrapped up in the looking forward to. Right?

Joanna: Yes, and I love doing it.

Brian Lehrer: That is great. Now, did you say at the beginning of your call that you took time out to make this call and talk on the radio even though you were printing wallpaper? Did you say printing wallpaper?

Joanna Yes, I'm printing wallpaper in my basement. I make my own wallpaper and print it on a table, not silkscreen but with hand blocks.

Brian Lehrer: Well then, that's an example of what you were talking about because there aren't many people in the world who print their own wallpaper.

Joanna: That's true. That's true. Yes. Anyway.

Brian Lehrer: Good luck with it all, Joanna. Call us again. Let's see. Some of the ones coming in on Twitter, "Looking forward to the street co-naming of 28th Street between Broadway and Sixth Avenue as Tin Pan Alley, the birthplace of American popular music after years of work by the Tin Pan Alley American popular music project." There you go. That part of 28th Street apparently to be renamed. Somebody else. "I learned to code during the pandemic and I'm starting my first full-time job as a software engineer this year. Looking forward to a totally new career."

You might want to call Allison after the twelve o'clock news because she's doing a segment on people starting new careers after the Great Resignation. Lisa in Long Hill, you're on WNYC. Long Hill New Jersey, right?

Lisa: Yes, it is.

Brian Lehrer: Hi Lisa. Happy New Year.

Lisa: Hi, Happy New Year. I am very much looking forward to my cheating to be ex-husband to finally get off my couch and my divorce to be over.

Brian Lehrer: Ooh. Yes.

Lisa: I know that's a big one but I cannot wait to start my new chapter of my life.

Brian Lehrer: Congratulations, Lisa. We've had one looking forward to getting married this year, one looking forward to finalizing her divorce this year. I guess either can lead to happy new chapters, right? Jennifer in Brooklyn, you're on WNYC. Hi, Jennifer. Happy New Year.

Jennifer: Happy New Year to you too. Thanks. I was just saying I went back to school over the pandemic online at Kingsboro. Because I'm a single parent, I didn't think I'd have enough time. I thought this was going to take forever, but I'm actually on track to graduate next year. Hoping to go on and get my Bachelor's after not going to school for like 20 years because I'm 47 now, so a little late. I'm a good student, I have all As.

Brian Lehrer: That's great, Jennifer. Good luck. Oh, you think you're a big deal at 47 doing that? Just listen to Dennis calling in next. Hi, Dennis, you're on WNYC.

Dennis: Hi Brian, love your show. I'm looking forward to, just like the last caller, getting my Bachelor's degree this year at age 63. That was the big one out of three. The other two is getting a pair of front teeth and buying a house, but the school is on my plate right now. I did get all As throughout the last semester.

Brian Lehrer: Those are three big things; graduating college, dental work, and buying a house, all three things in one year. You're graduating with a Bachelor's at age 63, what's your major?

Dennis: Bachelor of Fine Art. I've been doing a little coding like a previous caller, but mostly it's really digital art. Possibly if I was going to go for my Masters, which I might, I'd love to take on holography. I have ideas, had ideas all my life. My thesis is encapsulated in an issue of my magazine, which I might bring back called Living In The Past, which is historical but also musical. Anybody listening to that is going to know who I am.

Brian Lehrer: With a BFA, a Bachelor of Fine Arts, major in Fine Arts, are you doing that primarily for personal satisfaction and creativity, or is there a career aspect as well?

Dennis: Both. I am an artist, and I did work in publishing, printing 20 years ago. A lot of live music promotion. I think what many people say about me is that, "Boy, if you ever put it all together you'd really have something." This is the year for me to pull it all together under-- I have to admit, I'm COVID-weary. I am vaccinated, I'm sick of the politics. I think as an artist, all I'm supposed to do is portray the truth, and truth is elusive sometimes.

Brian Lehrer: Dennis, thank you. Living in the present, is Dennis living in the future? Is Dennis-- Thank you very much. Louise in Red Hook, you're on WNYC. Hi Louise. Happy New Year.

Louise: Hi, Happy New Year.

Brian Lehrer: What are you looking forward to in 2022?

Louise: Well, in the beginning of 2020 and into 2021 I started a meme marketing company with my partner, Evan, who-- I guess the start of our company really came from a meme campaign that he did for Bloomberg when he was running for president. We came up with an idea that Bloomberg would DM a bunch of memers and ask for some exposure and some coolness-- It's WNYC, a show with Brian Lehrer-- Oh, sorry, Evan just came in.

Brian Lehrer: I love the two conversations going on at the same time. I like that, go ahead.

Louise: Anyways, we do memes. Our agency is called Not an Ad, and it was born out of this idea that you can make ads for people and have it not feel like an advertisement on social media.

Brian Lehrer: Nice, and you're willing to admit in this context your partner having worked for the Bloomberg presidential campaign, and yet you're going to use that as a credential.

Louise: Yes, when someone like Michael Bloomberg says that he's willing to do memes, we have to make some moral confessions and say, "Let's try it."

Brian Lehrer: Thank you very much. Let's see. Some more from Twitter, somebody-- We got our only political one on Twitter, isn't it interesting? Maybe sad, that I invited all of you to call in and say what you're looking forward to in 2022. It could be something personal or it could be something political or something otherwise about the world. If you've been listening, you've been hearing that every single one that we've got on the phones, and every single one that I see holding on the phones have to do with personal milestones that people are looking forward to this year.

We just have one tweet that says, "I am looking forward to Dems taking over the Senate with two additional seats in 2022." That's the only one who has some political kind of optimism, is that the right word from her political point of view writing in right now? Somebody else writes, "Started my application to become an Italian citizen and becoming native fluent in Italian. Looking forward to completing both and going to Venice for the ninth time, first since COVID." Someone else writes, "I'm looking forward to rescuing ducks from live markets this year." That's an unusual one. Karen in Cooperstown, New York, you're on WNYC. Hi, Karen

Karen: Oh, hi. I also go by Casey because of all the memes these days, but I've actually called him before. I was a little nervous [crosstalk].

Brian Lehrer: You're Karen, but not our Karen is what you're trying to say, right?

Karen: No, exactly. Thank you. I'm very nice, I think. For 2022, I realize I'm working on a-- it's a called intellectual property, but a cartoon called Toodles and they're for 2022. I thought I just got my trademark on that and it's a good time to go put it out in the universe. I'm doing Toodles, toys design, and a character named Tolula also. A lot of Tos for 2022.

Brian Lehrer: Great, Karen.

Karen: That was a little alliteration.

Brian Lehrer: I hope it all goes great. Ending on a little alliteration there.

Karen: I've been hold up in my COVID studio.

Brian Lehrer: Karen, thank you very much. I am looking forward, in 2022, to continuing to work with my wonderful producers, Lisa Allison, Mary Croke, Zoe Azulay, Amina Srna, and Carl Boisrond. We also have Max Bolton helping out today. Looking forward to continuing to work with Zach Gottehrer-Cohen, who works on our daily podcast. Brian Lehrer, our daily politics podcast, which goes out nationally. Looking forward to working with Milton Ruiz Marrero, who is at the audio control today, and all the rest of our great staff here and around the Brian Lehrer Show. Thanks for listening today. Talk to you tomorrow on January the 4th.

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