The Portland-based band Pink Martini takes the stage at the Hollywood Bowl Wednesday night. 

They'll be joined by a special guest, a singer whose voice you've probably heard before on Southern California Public Radio.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ft-UWTxVEJM

, soon-to-be host of All Things Considered, first has a gig to sing with his friends in Pink Martini.

He debuted as a soloist with them at the Hollywood Bowl in 2009.

"At first it was kind of a novelty," he remembers, "but somehow the journalism life and the music life stopped being separate lives and just became different facets of what I do."

The irony, however, is that despite being a venerated journalist who has reported from the White House, the Supreme Court and overseas, Shapiro says singing on-stage in front of thousands is one of the most nerve-racking things he has ever done.

"Perhaps millions of people listen to NPR, but they're not all there in the room while you're doing it," he says.

"Doing those shows," he adds, "is an incredible inoculation against the fear that might prevent you from doing other things."

Ari Shapiro performs with Pink Martini on Wednesday, September 2nd at 8 p.m.