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The Popko Project An award winning podcast for the discussion and discovery of arts and entertainment.
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Episode 278 of The Popko Project Podcast featuring The Harbinger Curse is available streaming everywhere including Spoti...
25/09/2026

Episode 278 of The Popko Project Podcast featuring The Harbinger Curse is available streaming everywhere including Spotify and YouTube.

Link to watch in comments

Well this sucks.
20/09/2026

Well this sucks.

18/09/2026

What are your thoughts on performers sharing their political views during concerts?

Sad news today reported by 28/22 News (WBRE/WYOU). Duncan Sheik has passed.
18/09/2026

Sad news today reported by 28/22 News (WBRE/WYOU). Duncan Sheik has passed.

17/09/2026

Five For Fighting is on tour with a string quartet, bringing a new dynamic to the songs like “Superman (It’s Not Easy)” and “100 Years”. But what is most special is having his daughter’s band Olivia Lee. Caroline Lace. opening the show.

Episode 277 of The Popko Project feat. Five For Fighting is streaming everywhere including Spotify and YouTube.

An NEPA institution that went under many names. It’s a shame that this space has been left to rot. What do you remember...
15/09/2026

An NEPA institution that went under many names. It’s a shame that this space has been left to rot.

What do you remember it as?

The Popko Project Podcast was awarded Podcast of the Year at this year’s Steamtown Music Awards as part of the Electric ...
13/09/2026

The Popko Project Podcast was awarded Podcast of the Year at this year’s Steamtown Music Awards as part of the Electric City Music Conference!

Thanks to all of those who nominated and voted and congrats to ALL of this year’s winners and nominees!

EP 277 of the podcast featuring Five For Fighting (the man who gave us hits like “Superman” and “100 Years”) is streaming everywhere.

11/09/2026

What an absolute honor it was to interview John Ondrasik, better known as Five For Fighting—an artist whose music played such a significant part of my life in the early 2000s. The album America Town arrived during my senior year of high school, and songs like “Superman (It’s Not Easy),” “Easy Tonight,” and the rest of that record became permanently attached to that time in my life. If you told 18-year-old me that 25 years later I’d have the opportunity to sit down with the man who wrote those songs, I never would have believed you.

In Episode 277 of The Popko Project Podcast, John Ondrasik joins me for a conversation about the music and remarkable career of Five For Fighting. We look back at America Town, the unexpected rise of “Superman,” and how that song took on an entirely new meaning following the attacks of September 11, 2001.

With this episode releasing on the 25th anniversary of 9/11, John discusses the honor and emotion of once again performing “Superman” in New York City, his memories of performing at The Concert for New York City, and witnessing firsthand the extraordinary power music can have during moments of tragedy, healing, and unity.

We also dig into the pressure of following a massive hit like “Superman” and the long process that eventually produced “100 Years,” a song that cemented Five For Fighting as far more than a one-hit wonder.

John shares stories behind America Town, why “Easy Tonight” was essential to everything that followed, and how close “Superman” came to never becoming the song we all know today.

John also talks about his current string quartet tour, performing alongside his daughter Olivia, his work supporting American troops and veterans, writing and performing music connected to Ukraine, Israel, and Afghanistan, and why—after decades of success—he still believes his best song is yet to come.

And yes, we also talk about the other side of John Ondrasik’s fascinating life: working in his family’s shopping cart business while simultaneously becoming a Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter.

This was a genuinely special conversation for me. Music has an incredible ability to transport us back to specific people, places, and moments in our lives, and Five For Fighting will always be connected to an important chapter of mine.

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