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It was around 8pm tonight, when talking to my housemate, where I said it felt like today didn’t even happen. There were conversations, some interactions, a heck of a basketball game (go, UCONN), but… eh.
Plain old days come and go, but not every day needs to be notable, I guess. Sure, be grateful and all, but trying my best to skip the guilt of the “make everyday count” hype.
I remember starting to write on Medium a few years ago, here and there, but something always felt off. I just never trusted a place I didn’t pay for with my writing.
“(Ev Williams) keeps talking like this company founded in 2012 is a brand new startup finding its way,” one (employee) told me. “At a certain point you’re not nimble and iterating. You’re just floundering and failing to follow through and execute.”
From ‘THE MESS AT MEDIUM‘
It’s a bummer, too. Ev Williams was a beloved name to me as I started my internet journey, back in the days of Blogger and Twttr.
Oh well. Find a host, install WordPress, and get writing.
This fund has been created for Maggie Montoya and her four pharmacy coworkers at King Soopers who survived the mass shooting on March 22, 2021. Many in the running community have reached out wanting to help Maggie. As many of you know, she is a national class athlete, I am part of her team (@JoshCox on social media).
I reached out to her and she was so thankful for the support but wanted the fund to benefit all five in the pharmacy that day (two pharmacists and three pharmacy technicians).
100% of all funds collected will go to these survivors to aid in their recovery, therapy, self-care, and time away from work. We are all grieving with them and these funds will help them navigate the long journey ahead.
Josh Cox
What more needs to be said? I don’t know Maggie, but being a runner I follow her and a few other pro runner folk, and I see her training, her racing, etc. And now this… she was working, at her day job, and… more violence in America.
To think, also, that a Gofundme is even needed. To offset the cost of time away from work, for therapy, for take out, just to survive.
It reminds me of the insurrection. The tales of staffers and Senators who barricaded themselves in offices.
This is America, violent, dark, and scary.
If you can donate, click here.
Working in music it’s hard to ignore the whole live streaming thing that a lot of bands are doing (and a lot of bands aren’t doing).
I’m thinking a lot about the smaller acts, the solo performers, the bedroom music makers, and how a lot of times it’s okay to not do a live stream performance. Like, there’s a lot that goes into live streams – the technology, audio issues, video quality, promotion – it’s a lot!
Remember – music videos are still awesome. You can take your time, plan your shots, get better audio / video, and then you have this music video you made, which can sit on Vimeo / YouTube / etc. for years to come.
And you don’t even need to make it about your music. I know, I know, but hear me out: you know all the cool video press you hope to get one day? On big name media outlets? Do that!
Is there a big holiday coming up? Take Halloween, for example. You could record a few clips of you talking about your favorite spooky movies, and release them every Friday in the month of October.
Those “gear talk” videos? Make your own! And make them your own! Drench them with your own style and wit and humor.
Make a video or two, or four, or 12. Get good at making them – nail the audio, the video, the aesthetic…. all that stuff you learn is a foundation, so when someday you really want to plan a live stream you’ll have the tech know-how and skills to make it great!
Thanks to MTV and ‘Paradise City’ by Guns N’ Roses, I’m where I’m at today. I was surrounded by people in bands, always making music, then always writing about music, covering music… I’d say this all really started in 1991, when I started playing (my moms) bass. That was 30 years ago.
And I started a music blog in 2001, which really put me on the path to where I am today. That was 20 years ago.
Humbled, grateful, filled with bees at all times.
This is the second streak I’ve ended this year. The first was a 70 day running streak, where I ran at least a mile everyday. And now I made it 72 days posting not just an audio loop, but a video to go with it.
Instead of getting up early and working on a loop, I stayed in bed. Work ran late. Once I had the space to actually work on a loop, eh, I didn’t. And really, it’s not a big deal at all. I still make music. I still create things. That’s enough.
I guess it’s just important to follow your energy. Like, I ended my run streak, but I still run. I ended my loop streak, I’ll still make music. It’s okay. Our best creative moments can happen when not being creative. Our best runs happen because on the days we don’t run our bodies recover and grow stronger.
Streaks are neat, and all. Seems like 70ish is my limit. Onto the next, I guess.
A year of Groundhog Day, on repeat, on every TV in the house, at full volume. Cut out all the random events of your day, like running into old friends, or meeting new people, cut out every leisure social activity like going to the movies, going out for dinner, or meeting up for coffee.
Then, replace and amplify everything else which, face it, work. Then every work item, and to-do, and video call, and weekend task turns into a pebble that you have to carry and not put down. Eventually those pebbles turn into a landslide.
“social media gigs in 2021 all basically include at least 4 full time jobs,” @thecultureofme
Video by Ruvim Miksanskiy and Tima Miroshnichenko from Pexels
Loop Daddy returned today with a new set-up and a ferocious mix of sleaze and funk. It was nearly two and a half hours of magic, and it totally brightened up my weekend.
I think this is my first complete song, if you count a 15 second, 200BPM chaos-fest like this a song. It’s here now, in the world for all the world to completely ignore, which is fine. I had so much fun making this, editing this (audio and video). This is joy to me. This isn’t work, this is all play.
Chances are most everything you write, make, capture, put out – it won’t be a hit. It won’t register. It won’t move. It won’t shake the world.
I mean, there’s people who forgot about “This is America” by Childish Gambino (hey, 2018 was a long time ago). There’s people who still never watched any of the Star Wars movies. People who’ve never read classic books, poems.
Keep making your thing regardless.
“I think the first concert back I’m legit gonna be crying. Like if you see me breakdown in tears in the pit mind your business” @TheKodakChris
Driving footage by Kelly Lacy from Pexels
Video game controller footage by Tima Miroshnichenko from Pexels
Video game arcade footage by cottonbro from Pexels
My run streak that I started in November 2020 ended at day 71. I though of stopping these Daily Loops today, but then realized that the two streaks are different, but also similar.
Ending a run streak doesn’t mean I stop running, I can always run tomorrow. But ending a Daily Loop streak means that maybe a certain beat doesn’t get made, or a riff doesn’t come to me.
What if today’s loop, or loop #45, or whatever – what if that was the one? The one bit of magic captured in time that leads to… something?
I like run streaks, but there’s no real revelation in the moment I guess. But for something like making music, that one day of pushing ahead and creating something can lead to something beautiful.
Not saying you have to make and produce a thing every single day to reach some sort of spiritual enlightenment that this silly post claims to conjure, just relaying my story. Your mileage may vary. Post a photo every week. Publish a poem on the weekends. I don’t know, make it up as you go.
“This is a PSA because the creative world is tearing itself apart. The panicked spread of misinformation and lack of nuance are deeper than crypto art, however. These are markers of untreated trauma,” Danielle Evans
