Brad Spurgeon's Blog

In 2010 I decided it was finally time to launch my own blog – this blog – in order to write about all of my passions in an unrestricted manner, tying together my travels, my music and musical interests, auto racing, literature, chess, food, my personal life and all the rest into one big and crazy mix. The mix of what’s really in my head!

What I do…

After a short stint in the entertainment industry as a teenager and in my early 20s, I changed focus, went to university and switched to a career in journalism and writing. I have published several short stories and written thousands of articles on a multitude of subjects for newspapers, magazines and web sites, but I ended up specializing mostly in writing about Formula One motor racing for the International Herald Tribune, The New York Times and also, for a few years, at About.com.

In 2006 at the IHT I created the first F1 blog by a regular F1 reporter. In 2009 the blog became the F1 blog of The New York Times at Nytimes.com.

As of October 2013 the International Herald Tribune ceased to exist, and I continued writing about Formula One and some other auto sports for The International New York Times where I remained on staff until December 2016. I then set out as a freelance with my own company, called, “Unfinished Business SAS,” designed to let me continue doing everything I always did, but in a freer and better way and with more of it all….

Forward to the past…

In October 2008 I returned to music and performing after nearly a 30-year break. From then until October 2009, I played in open mics and open jam sessions three to five times per week, including in every country of the Formula One season. Over that year I played in open mics and open jam sessions in 17 countries, nearly 30 cities and on all continents except Africa (where I did actually once live and play).

I kept a journal of the musical adventure, which I am turning into a musical memoir, travelogue and sociological look at the worldwide phenomenon of the open mic and open jam session, titled: “Out of a Jam.”

During that time I also began to land a few small gigs – including in Paris, London, Toronto and Budapest – and I am now continuing to develop my repertoire of both cover and original songs while continuing to play in open mics and gigs, having never stopped playing as I traveled to all of the F1 events from 2009 to the end of 2016 around the world each year for my work as a journalist.

In 2016 I released my first CD, of 10 songs, also called “Out of a Jam.”

Starting in 2017, my life really came full-circle, when I began to work in the troupe of TAC Teatro, founded and directed by Ornella Bonventre, and in which since that time I have been creating new shows, acting, riding my unicycle, juggling and doing ventriloquism.

In 2020-21, during the coronavirus pandemic, I did a fabulous writing project that allowed me, unlike many performers and musicians, to focus entirely on the life of the mind during a period when performance was impossible: I wrote the book “Formula 1: The Impossible Collection,” published by Assouline, in May 2021. (A story I tell in a post about the Assouline Formula 1 book.) It was my second published book, after “Colin Wilson: Philosopher of Optimism.”

In October 2021, I completed a 21-episode documentary film series (each episode is 20 to 23 minutes long) about open mics around the world, also called, “Out of a Jam.”

Among my other passions are chess, wining and dining…and unicycling to burn it all off.