David Pogue is columnist for the New York Times, an author, and an Emmy-winning CBS News correspondent. He’s also the host of a new four-part PBS/Nova series called Making Stuff, and last week he appeared on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson to promote this new series.
It was on The Late Late Show that David made a startling admission.
David described how, many years ago, while working as a musical director on Broadway, he learned of some revolutionary software that would put notes on the page as you played a MIDI keyboard. While he couldn’t afford the software at the time, a computer newsletter editor suggested that if he contacted the manufacturer as a software reviewer, they might send it to him.
Yes, on national TV, David Pogue admitted to scamming his first copy of the ground-breaking music software, which was, of course, Finale! (Check out the above link starting around 6:58.)
Fortunately, that wasn’t the end of David’s association with Finale. He even admits as much on his website. David went on to write the Finale 3.0 manuals, and rumor has it that his 1995 novel, Hard Drive, was influenced by the time he spent with the eccentric staff of a certain Minnesota-based music software company.
While I was tickled to hear Finale described on The Late Late Show, I’m also really excited for David as Making Stuff is great fun and seems to be getting lots of good attention. I’ve crossed paths with David a few times over the years, and I’ve always found him to be a warm, funny guy. His casting in this series strikes me as a perfect example of “it couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.”
Check out Making Stuff, and let us know what you think by clicking on “Comments” below.