Category: Life

SEEKING QUIET INPUTS

Great quote from ‘All we watch are millionaires,’ from Dense Discovery:

“Seeking out lesser-known voices isn’t just an act of cultural curation; it’s a philosophical stance, a refusal to let attention be the only metric that matters. Because the most interesting stuff usually happens on the margins.”

Link via Input Diet by Manuel Moreale

Manuel goes on to say, “I’m starting to believe that a phoneless life is, for me, the ultimate goal.”

Remember when people used to say they didn’t own a TV? Or a car?!? Someday not owning a phone is gonna feel the same way.

THE LONG GAME

Started a music blog in 2001.

Launched a metal blog for AOL Music in 2008 (7 years later).

Starting posting metal trivia on Twitter in 2011.

Sorta co-founded Metal Bandcamp Gift Club in 2016 (and so broke I didn’t have a checking account).

Got back to blogging again in 2018.

Started doing D2C email marketing for a record label in 2020.

Started writing on Substack in 2021 with 19 subscribers.

Changed the name to Social Media Escape Club in 2023.

Stuff takes a minute, friends!

THE UNDOING

I’m in a season of undoing, as in, I’m hitting Ctrl Z on a lot of my possessions. This is partly because of rumors surrounding the sale of the building I live in, and also the expected 90% rise in my health care premiums in 2026. Fun!

These things are very much out of my control, so I’m ridding myself of excess, unused, and un-needed, and making way for what’s next, though just a bit more nimble.

This is happening both digitally, by removing my files from overpriced cloud storage, and physically, as in donating multiple bicycles and such.

CHANGE IS CORE

This theme came up in a recent Zoom meeting I was in:

“I took a sabbatical from my work as a photographer last year but I have a feeling my time as a commercial photographer might be coming to an end. I’ll always love photography and I’ll always be a photographer, but I feel my life force pushing me in different directions. When I tell my friends I might stop being a commercial photographer, they ask, but what will you do! And I realise how interesting that question is, and how we can limit ourselves and others when we think change is hard and things always have to be a certain way. In fact change is core to a vibrant, meaningful life, and we should expect change at any moment, without notice.”

From “reprogramming” by Rebecca Toh.

DEAD TELEVISION

I was gifted a 60″ television, something I would have never bought for myself.

It was older, which is part of the reason it was a gift, but it didn’t age well. It died this past week.

You don’t just “toss” a 60″ television though. It’s not really something you can leave on the curb, and there’s also e-waste recycling things to deal with.

Today, though, the TV is gone, and my life feels a little bit lighter. When off, it’s just this black monolith taking up space, mentally and physically.

I used the 1-800-GOT-JUNK folks, and they were great. Sure, a wee bit overprices for the TV and the other few items they took away, but it’s all gone, and the guys were super nice. Literally like, had a good laugh with them.

In a round about way, thinking less about televisions and “entertainment” and more about people. Bummer that it took the death of this giant TV to arrive at that place, but it was a good lesson learned.

Say no to gifts over 60″ in size.

WALKING

Since getting hurt over the summer from running, I’ve turned to walking. Lots of walking. Basically 10 miles per day of inentional “start my watch and go” sort of walking. This week I walked 82 miles.

Thanks, Norah for this one.
From Bradley
Another from Bradley.
Even updated my Strava.

THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR

October 1st is here, along with crisp morning air, a long walk, and coffee from a local joint called Four Monkeys.

This time of year is magic for me. Since I’ve been working in the “music biz” since the mid 2000s and all, things always slowed down around this time. The flow of press releases, big news, tours, the overall volume of information kinda calmed down, and I always try to form these months around that, even though it’s a different era.

The world ain’t gonna form around my vibes, so I will bring the vibes I need, in both work and personal life, and that means being more present, more morning walks, less stressing about the things I have no control over.

ART VS POLITICAL NONSENSE

A blog is a wonderful time capsule, for both the good and the bad. This from a recent email newsletter from the German band Elder:

Unfortunately, the timing for this release coincides with the change in tariff policies of the US government. Our (Stickman, based in Germany) uses a number of services to ensure the cheapest possible worldwide shipping, but all of them are currently not servicing the US while they re-tool themselves to handle the current situation.

As such, before these tariffs went into effect we only managed to get 100 copies of the EP into the US! If you are in the States and want to get your hands on one, you will need to order either via Armageddon Shop or Echodelic, both of which have only 50 copies.

We know that techincally tariffs shouldn’t affect vinyl as it falls under the banner of “informational materials”. Our shipping partners are not currently servicing the US and our hands are tied. Apologies for that.

Hope to look back on this post five years from now and shake my head at the current state of political affairs.

And holy heck, that album art is soooo good.