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Ken Goldstein (born June 1969), also known as Kene G and Jack Dempsey, is an
American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...
musician, film and television writer, producer, director and occasional actor. He is a co-founder of Planet illogica and CEO of The Six Shooter Company and the author of the book series, ''The Way of the Nerd''. Goldstein is an active speaker at conferences and festivals, universities and private and public institutions. He has been a featured and Keynote speaker in Brazil, Australia, France and Germany. He is also a songwriter, guitar player, performer and recording artist who often performs under the
stage name A stage name is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers—such as actors, comedians, singers, and musicians. Such professional aliases are adopted for a wide variety of reasons and they may be similar, or nearly identical, to an individu ...
Jack Dempsey. In 2014 Ken Goldstein completed his first solo album as Jack Dempsey at
Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007) is an American record label distributed by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label of note ...
. The album was produced and engineered by
Niko Bolas Niko Bolas is an American music producer, sound engineer, and consultant and business developer in the fields of virtual reality and Internet radio. In 1989, Bolas founded Fakespace Music with Mark Bolas, Ian McDowall and Christian Greuel, which, ...
.


Early life and education

Goldstein grew up in
Northbrook, Illinois Northbrook is a suburb of Chicago, located at the northern edge of Cook County, Illinois, United States, on the border of Lake County, Illinois, Lake County. Per the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 35,222. When incorpo ...
, the town formerly called, Shermerville, Illinois, which is the setting for several of the classic films of the late director, John Hughes, who attended Northbrook's Glenbrook North High School (the setting of the town and High School in ''
Ferris Bueller's Day Off ''Ferris Bueller's Day Off'' is a 1986 American teen comedy film written, co-produced, and directed by John Hughes and co-produced by Tom Jacobson. The film stars Matthew Broderick, Mia Sara, and Alan Ruck with supporting roles by Jennifer Grey ...
'', ''
Sixteen Candles ''Sixteen Candles'' is a 1984 American coming-of-age comedy film starring Molly Ringwald, Michael Schoeffling, and Anthony Michael Hall. Written and directed by John Hughes in his directorial debut, it was the first in a string of films Hughes ...
'' and '' Breakfast Club''). Goldstein can be briefly seen in the film, ''
Ferris Bueller's Day Off ''Ferris Bueller's Day Off'' is a 1986 American teen comedy film written, co-produced, and directed by John Hughes and co-produced by Tom Jacobson. The film stars Matthew Broderick, Mia Sara, and Alan Ruck with supporting roles by Jennifer Grey ...
'' and ''
Sixteen Candles ''Sixteen Candles'' is a 1984 American coming-of-age comedy film starring Molly Ringwald, Michael Schoeffling, and Anthony Michael Hall. Written and directed by John Hughes in his directorial debut, it was the first in a string of films Hughes ...
'', as all of the classic Hughes' films were shot during the years he attended
Glenbrook North High School Glenbrook North High School (also known as GBN) is a public high school in Northbrook, Illinois, a north suburb of Chicago, United States. It was established in 1953 and is part of the Northfield Township High School District 225. In 2022, it ...
and utilized students as featured extras. A chance encounter with John Hughes in 1987, during which Goldstein and Hughes performed the song, "Good Love", in front of a gymnasium filled with students, foreshadowed his employment as Hughes' personal and creative assistant during the pre-production of ''
Home Alone 2 ''Home Alone 2: Lost in New York'' is a 1992 American Christmas comedy film directed by Chris Columbus and written and produced by John Hughes. The sequel to the 1990 film ''Home Alone'' and the second film in the ''Home Alone'' franchise, t ...
'' and throughout the production of the film. As a teen he attended the London School of Dramatic Arts and the
Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 mill ...
before graduating from
Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the university has been nonsectarian since 1920. Locate ...
in 1990. He is the grandson of Cecilia Dubin, the Russian concert pianist.


Media career

Goldstein was a photojournalist for the New York New Times in the late 1980s, a writer for the
Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...
in the early 1990s, and a television news commentator and field reporter for
FOX News The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is owne ...
and
NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...
, including the on-air host of ''Too Much Information'', a television news magazine for Fox News in Chicago. He also wrote, directed and produced television for
A&E Network A&E is an American basic cable network, the flagship television property of A&E Networks. The network was originally founded in 1984 as the Arts & Entertainment Network, initially focusing on fine arts, documentaries, television drama, dramas, and ...
,
The History Channel History (formerly The History Channel from January 1, 1995 to February 15, 2008, stylized as HISTORY) is an American pay television network and flagship channel owned by A&E Networks, a joint venture between Hearst Communications and the Disney ...
,
BET Black Entertainment Television (acronym BET) is an American basic cable channel targeting African-American audiences. It is owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global via BET Networks and has offices in New York City, Los A ...
,
TF-1 The TF-1 (or ''Autopista del Sur'', "Southern Motorway") is a motorway encircling the eastern and the southern parts of the island of Tenerife ( Canary Islands). The TF-1 motorway runs from the capital Santa Cruz in the north to Adeje with it ...
,
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
,
PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...
,
Fox Broadcasting Company The Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly known simply as Fox and stylized in all caps as FOX, is an American commercial broadcast television network owned by Fox Corporation and headquartered in New York City, with master control operations an ...
and
NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...
. Goldstein co-produced, directed and edited the several documentary specials including ''The Angel of Bergen-Belsen'' and "Copycat Crimes", which were released by
A&E Network A&E is an American basic cable network, the flagship television property of A&E Networks. The network was originally founded in 1984 as the Arts & Entertainment Network, initially focusing on fine arts, documentaries, television drama, dramas, and ...
, and received an Emmy from the Chicago Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences for his production of the children’s television program ''There’s No Such Thing as a Chanukah Bush, Sandy Goldstein'', in 1995. In 2011, he became the bureau chief for ''
Wizard Magazine ''Wizard'' or ''Wizard: The Magazine of Comics, Entertainment and Pop Culture'' (previously titled ''Wizard: The Guide to Comics'' and ''Wizard: The Comics Magazine'') was a magazine about comic books, published monthly in the United States by W ...
s "Games, Girls, Gadgets and Gear" and Wizard World Comic Cons. His column, "State of the Game", appears weekly in ''Wizard World'' magazine. On April 29 he celebrated the launch of the speaking tour for his book, "The Way of the Nerd: Practical Advice for Impractical People," at the 2011 Anaheim Comic Con


The Way of the Nerd series and other books

Ken Goldstein has said that the first book in his ten part series ''The Way of the Nerd: Practical Advice for Impractical People'' has been in the works for twenty years but took only twenty hours to write. The book was completed in the Spring of 2011. An early draft of the book leaked onto the internet in July 2011 and became a popular internet download. The book, which is available in retail stores as well as on-line vendors, is also the subject of Goldstein's lecture series, The Day of the Nerd. Goldstein is currently writing the second book in the series, ''The Way of the Nerd: Actually I am Going to Tell You What to do with Your Life'', which is set to be released in hard back and ebook formats in October 2012. Though all of the books in this series are based on the writings of
Lao Tzu Laozi (), also known by numerous other names, was a semilegendary ancient Chinese Taoist philosopher. Laozi ( zh, ) is a Chinese honorific, generally translated as "the Old Master". Traditional accounts say he was born as in the state of ...
and his titular work
Tao Te Ching The ''Tao Te Ching'' (, ; ) is a Chinese classic text written around 400 BC and traditionally credited to the sage Laozi, though the text's authorship, date of composition and date of compilation are debated. The oldest excavated portion d ...
each book incorporates a wide variety of spiritual teachings from
Kabbalah Kabbalah ( he, קַבָּלָה ''Qabbālā'', literally "reception, tradition") is an esoteric method, discipline and Jewish theology, school of thought in Jewish mysticism. A traditional Kabbalist is called a Mekubbal ( ''Məqūbbāl'' "rece ...
,
Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
,
Judaism Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in the ...
,
Sufism Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, r ...
and
Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
. In July 2012 Huqua Press released ''The Oprah Effect'' which features a foreword by Ken Goldstein.


Planet illogica

Ken Goldstein co-founded Planet illogica, an agency and an online creative community for artists and art organizations. The site launched in beta July 2009 with the help of the American Film Institute’s Digital Content Lab. During his tenure with Planet illogica Goldstein was the CMO (Chief Marketing Officer) and oversaw all marketing, promotion and branding efforts. Examples of Planet illogica's marketing support of its artists in residence include their
South by Southwest South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in m ...
art exhibit of American contemporary artist Ron English’s ''Historic'' ''
KISS A kiss is the touch or pressing of one's lips against another person or an object. Cultural connotations of kissing vary widely. Depending on the culture and context, a kiss can express sentiments of love, passion, romance, sexual attraction, ...
'' art and other music-related prints, its online sale and promotion of custom limited edition apparel from English’s ''Popaganda'' collection, the brokering of Ron English art into the video game,
inFamous Infamous may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Film and television * ''Infamous'' (2006 film), an American drama film * ''Infamous'' (2020 film), an American crime thriller film * "Infamous", an episode of ''Lego Ninjago: Masters of Spinj ...
on the PS3 and co-Producing Ron's 2010 retrospect, ''Status Factory''. Another project was ''Infiltrate'', an art installation touring the University of Utah, George Washington University, and the University of Florida, among other campuses., that Planet illogica produced for Disney Nature and Participant Media, as an educational and promotional vehicle for the film,
Oceans The ocean (also the sea or the world ocean) is the body of salt water that covers approximately 70.8% of the surface of Earth and contains 97% of Earth's water. An ocean can also refer to any of the large bodies of water into which the worl ...
. Planet illogica's roots were established in the Artists in Residence (''AiR'') program, also co-founded by Ken Goldstein and Tonny Sorensen, and incubated within the
Von Dutch Von Dutch is an American multinational fashion brand posthumously named after Kenny Howard, a.k.a. "Von Dutch", an American artist and pinstriper of the Kustom Kulture movement. After Howard's death in 1992, his daughters allowed Ed Boswell ...
company. The inaugural AiR event was held at Von Dutch headquarters in Los Angeles, CA on September 27, 2007, and was a launch event for the mixed martial arts comic book JFH: Justice For Hire, created by the first AiR-sponsored artist,
Jan Lucanus Jan Lucanus is an American comic book writer, filmmaker, martial artist, musical artist, and entrepreneur. He is the founder and CEO of the transmedia company Creative Impulse Entertainment, Inc., co-creator/co-writer of the mixed martial arts ...
, who later became the first Planet illogica artist. "Justice-For-Hire Presents Fight Night at the Von Dutch" drew a crowd of 1,100 spectators as they were presented with martial arts demonstrations and exhibition fights from Jan and his "JFH" fight team members, including champion fighters Maximillion Chen,
Ahmed Best Ahmed Best (born August 19, 1973) is an American actor, comedian and musician. He is known for providing motion capture and the voice of the character of Jar Jar Binks in the '' Star Wars'' franchise. Best likewise collaborated with director G ...
, and
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ; pt, jiu-jitsu brasileiro ) is a self-defence martial art and combat sport based on grappling, ground fighting (ne-waza) and submission holds. BJJ focuses on the skill of taking an opponent to the ground, control ...
Master John Machado, along with Jan's father, veteran comic book writer and
Tai Chi Chuan Tai chi (), short for Tai chi ch'üan ( zh, s=太极拳, t=太極拳, first=t, p=Tàijíquán, labels=no), sometimes called " shadowboxing", is an internal Chinese martial art practiced for defense training, health benefits and meditation. T ...
Master Jan C. Childress. Other performances included an
Oprah Winfrey Oprah Gail Winfrey (; born Orpah Gail Winfrey; January 29, 1954), or simply Oprah, is an American talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and philanthropist. She is best known for her talk show, ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'', br ...
-sponsored choir and acrobatics from
Cirque du Soleil Cirque du Soleil (, ; "Circus of the Sun" or "Sun Circus") is a Canadian entertainment company and the largest contemporary circus producer in the world. Located in the inner-city area of Saint-Michel, it was founded in Baie-Saint-Paul on 16 Ju ...
troop, REALIS. Celebrities in attendance included Seth Green,
Lea Thompson Lea Katherine Thompson (born May 31, 1961) is an American actress and director. She is best known for her role as Lorraine Baines-McFly in the Back to the Future (franchise), ''Back to the Future'' film trilogy (1985–1990) and Beverly Switzl ...
, as well as a slew of martial arts masters from across California. Planet illogica also developed and produced multi-media projects including movies, television shows, books and albums. Projects include organist Christoph Bull's " First & Grand", the first classical organ record ever recorded at the
Walt Disney Concert Hall The Walt Disney Concert Hall at 111 South Grand Avenue in downtown Los Angeles, California, is the fourth hall of the Los Angeles Music Center and was designed by Frank Gehry. It was opened on October 24, 2003. Bounded by Hope Street, Grand Ave ...
in Los Angeles, and ''
Climate Refugees Climate migrants are a subset of environmental migrants who were forced to flee "due to sudden or gradual alterations in the natural environment related to at least one of three impacts of climate change: sea-level rise, extreme weather events, ...
'' documentary film.


References


External links


Dempsey/Goldstein Music Site
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Goldstein, Ken 1969 births Living people Writers from Los Angeles Writers from Chicago Glenbrook North High School alumni American chief executives